


All I want for Christmas is for it to be over

by berryblonde



Category: Detroit: Become Human (Video Game)
Genre: All the tropes I'm not even sorry, Anti-Android Language (Detroit: Become Human), Anti-Android Sentiments (Detroit: Become Human), Christmas Decorations, Christmas fic, F/M, Fake/Pretend Relationship, Fluff and Humor, Gavin's family are all dicks I'm sorry, Getting Together, M/M, Minor Elijah/Chloe, Mistletoes, Sharing a Bed
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2018-12-24
Updated: 2018-12-31
Packaged: 2019-09-26 06:23:33
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 3
Words: 30,063
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/17136638
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/berryblonde/pseuds/berryblonde
Summary: Maybe impuslively telling his mother that he would be bringing someone for Christmas was the stupidest idea Gavin had ever had.But maybe after a week of frustration with a horrible family, schemes by a weird cousin, and pretending to be in love with Connor, he might just consider himself a genius.





	1. Chapter 1

**Author's Note:**

  * For [Kuinshi](https://archiveofourown.org/users/Kuinshi/gifts), [Chibbers](https://archiveofourown.org/users/Chibbers/gifts).



> So I wrote a Christmas fic. It's 30k. I'm not sorry. I had so much fun working on this, honestly more than i had in a while with writing because I didn't have to stick to really anything except our (that is, [@kuinshi](https://kuinshi.tumblr.com) and [@teh-chibi](https://teh-chibi.tumblr.com) on tumblr, as well as the occasional input from my beloved usual beta, [@cheezpotatoe](http://cheezpotatoe.tumblr.com)) weird ideas. Big Thank you to all of you! This is basically my Christmas gift to everyone (after all I can't participate in the Secret Santa), since this fandom has been such a joy to be in for me. So Thank you everyone who has ever talked to me, has ever commented or left kudos or read any of my fics. Thank you.  
> I hope you enjoy, don't forget to tell me your thoughts about this first chapter, and happy holidays!

**10:32 p.m., November 26**

  

_It was the perfect plan._

At least that’s what Gavin kept telling himself as he paced back and forth through his apartment, startling Gilbert more than once. The big Maine Coon hissed, affronted at being shooed away from where he had been sitting and cleaning himself, staring at his owner disapprovingly.

 _Great, even my fucking cat is judging me_ , Gavin thought, running one of his hands through his already messy hair, cell phone in the other.

A text kept staring at him, the black writing almost mocking if that was even possible.

He had received a text from not just his mother, but his father, his younger sister and his grandfather this morning, each and every one of them telling him that he better show up this year and better not do something stupid since it would be the first year his sister’s fiancé would celebrate with them.

Naturally, Gavin planned on doing just exactly the opposite of what they had told him. He wouldn’t be able to opt out of visiting them, no, but he could do everything in his power to piss them off as much as humanly possible.

So he had told his mother that he would be bringing someone without even thinking about whom to bring. Maybe it had been a knee-jerk reaction to hearing that his sister would be bringing some douche that had agreed to marry her while he was still a lonely pathetic man with nothing to love but a bitchy cat, maybe it was the first thing he thought of that he could shove into their faces to prove to them that he was, in fact, not as miserable as they thought he was.

Even if he kind of was.

Whatever his reasoning behind it had been, he couldn’t exactly take it back now, Gavin thought as he saw another notification popping up on his phone, another text from his sister. The only one he had answered so far had been the one from his mom, and that had gotten him into this mess.

Now he had to find someone to pretend that they were putting up with him. Preferably someone who would attract just the right amount of wrath from his family without getting them kicked out immediately.

Which was exactly while he was pacing through his apartment at nearly 11 p.m. despite the fact that he had an early shift tomorrow, telling himself that this idea was actually a good one.

If he could convince Connor to play along, that is.

Because of course bringing the android along would piss his family off more than anything.

If he was being honest, for a brief moment he had seriously considered asking Hank as a first idea, simply for the sheer hilarity of it. Bringing a grumpy, recovering alcoholic twenty years his senior that looked as if he was actually twice his age? Absolutely fucking funny.

But not only were the chances of the man agreeing to his weird scheme lower than those of Gavin actually eating something other than take-out for dinner more than once every two months, the thought of pretending to be in a relationship with Hank was just… Really fucking weird.

So, Connor it was. And maybe that was even better. Not just because his family was as much anti-android as he had been until he had managed to get his head out of his fucking ass around two months after the revolution as well as them probably being stuck in the eighties with their view of homosexuality. No, Connor would be the perfect choice because apart from the aforementioned reasons, no one could actually hate sweet, polite Connor with his almost annoying enthusiasm and the way he always tried to make everyone happy.

Now he just had to convince him somehow, Gavin pondered as he finally sat down on his old, raggedy couch, the soft light of his phone’s screen illuminating his face. Gilbert had deemed him worthy of his attention again it seemed as the feline jumped up onto the couch where Fucknugget, the small, chaotic, needy, ginger cat he had taken in only two months prior, was already sleeping and demanded to be pet. With a smile, Gavin gave in and petted him while opening all of the new messages on his phone only to promptly ignore them, all except the one from his mother.

_Yeah, I’m serious, I’m bringing someone. A “significant other” if that’s what you wanna call it._

Reading the reply once more before hitting send he let out a sigh and leaned into the couch, shoulders relaxing as he threw his head back.

He could only hope that he won’t actually regret this

 

**9:12 a.m., November 27**

Gavin was absolutely, without a doubt, regretting this. Maybe he should’ve just brought Tina again, just so the whole ordeal went over calmly with no one (him, probably, or maybe Dana) being murdered.

Or maybe he should have actually gone with Hank, at least then he would have just been shut down with either the Lieutenant laughing his ass off or sucker punching him, depending on the man’s mood.

He would have been able to handle being made fun or or shouted at.

But Connor’s sweet, curious eyes, the way his eyebrows curved softly to create the perfect questioning, but not a bit rude or suspicious expression? Nope, nope, he couldn’t deal with this. Maybe he should have just called Connor.

How does one even call an android? Did he even have a phone?

Or maybe he should have just shown up at his doorstep instead of doing this at work. And risk being shot by Anderson because he thought Gavin was attempting to corrupt his precious android son? Yeah. Sure.

So work it was, the two of them standing awkwardly in one of the hallways leading to the interrogation rooms, Gavin shifting his weight from one foot to another restlessly, eyes flickering around, nervously waiting for someone to catch them as if they were doing something they shouldn’t.

Technically, Gavin supposed, he was doing something he probably, most likely shouldn’t: Convincing his co-worker whom he had been on somewhat friendly terms with for about half a year now to play his loving boyfriend over Christmas.

Yeah, definitely not something he should be doing.

“Detective?” Connor interrupted his train of thought, worry mixing into the curious expression on his face.

Shit, how could Connor have the fucking audacity to be concerned about him? To be so nice? Oh fucking hell this was exactly why Connor was the perfect candidate. That, and the fact that the android was far from unattractive, and if Gavin would be spending Christmas pretending to have a great life with a great partner it would sure as hell help his acting skills for it to be someone he actually found attractive.

“I detect a spike in your stress levels and an elated heartbeat, Detective. I strongly suggest you reduce your daily caffeine intake.”

“Yeah, no, fuck you, Connor,” Gavin replied, mentally slapping himself. That was going well.

Connor skillfully ignored the Detective’s remark, used to it by now. He knew Gavin’s words didn’t hold any malice, not anymore anyways.

“So what is it you wanted to speak to me about?”

“So the thing is—” Gavin gulped. There was no turning back now. “I may have told my annoying ass family that I’m bringing someone home for Christmas, and as you have probably guessed, I’m single as fuck.”

He paused, trying to figure out how Connor would react to his request once he actually made it. The android just stared at him, expression attentive but not giving away anything else.

“So I need to find someone willing to play along. And I’d prefer if it’s someone who’d piss off the fucking bastards as much as possible,” he continued carefully.

“And I thought, hey, those assholes hate gays and androids, so why don’t I bring my male android co-worker?”

Said out aloud like this, it sounded more than just a bit ridiculous even to Gavin’s ears. Connor however didn’t seem to be put off by it, just looking at the other, contemplating.

As if he was actually considering doing it.

“And that would be me?” Connor asked, tilting his head curiously. No, that’d be Tina. Damn, what kinda question was that?

“Yeah.” Gavin resisted the urge to roll his eyes.

“And why did you think I might agree to this?”

Shit. That was it. That was probably a big, fat no, and all Gavin had done was make a fool out of himself and give Connor reason to think he was an absolute douche. Not that he wasn’t, but he wasn’t that much of an idiot. Or at least he had thought so up until now.

“Because you’re nice and Hank will be at this weird ass conference over Christmas and pissing off some anti-android assholes sounds more fun than staying here all alone?” Gavin attempted, unable to look Connor in the eyes.

“What makes you assume that I would be here by myself? How can you know I don’t already have a partner I want to spend the holidays with?”

“What? You don’t, do you?”

“I could.”

“But you don’t, right?”

“This really isn’t doing anything in your favor, Detective.”

“Please?”

Connor sighed.

“Let’s say, in a hypothetical scenario, I agree to assist you in your ridiculous plan to anger your family, how long would we be staying there? What exactly would I need to do?”

Connor appeared to be genuinely interested, even if Gavin wasn’t sure that it wasn’t just so he could laugh about it later with Lieutenant dad.

“I mean, over Christmas? Maybe a week or two, no clue yet, changes every year. If you’re into really pissing off some android-hating bastards without punching them, just be as insufferably nice as possible, and we’d gotta be as lovey-dovey as we can. You’d have to pretend you actually like me though, romantically and shit. Hell, you can even be as overly festive as you wanna, I know you’re into that.”

His whole plan would fall or stand with what Connor said next.

After a long, pause, the android looked at Gavin, a small smile appearing on his lips, a mischievous glint in his eyes.

“Alright. Despite my better judgement, I agree. I will be helping you with your ridiculous idea, especially since as of yet, I have no plans for the holidays. But I have one condition.”

Shit. What the hell could Connor even want from him? That he did his paperwork for a month? Connor could do his fucking paperwork in seconds. Coffee every morning? Was the android even able to drink? Gavin couldn’t remember whether or not he had ever seen Connor drink coffee.

“You will not argue with any Christmas related articles I decide to bring along, Detective.”

What? Alright, alright, he could deal with that.

“Yeah, Yeah, whatever you want, tin can. Though it might be best if you stop calling me ‘Detective’ while we’re here. I doubt couples call each other by their fucking work titles.”

“If you say so.” The smile on Connor’s lips widened slightly. “Gavin,” he added. Gavin could feel his heart skip a beat at the way his name simply rolled off of Connor’s tongue, his cheeks heating up slightly. Fucking android.

“I’m looking forward to working with you. Please contact me about further details as soon as possible, but I need to get back to work now.”

With that, the android walked away, leaving Gavin to stare after him and wonder how the hell he had actually managed to get Connor to agree to this, his cheeks still warm and eyes glued to the android’s form.

**7:34 a.m., December 2**

_A gift_. He needed a fucking gift for Connor. If he actually wanted to pretend to be all grossly in love with him he’d need a fucking gift. Did the android get him something? Should he bring it up?

It had been a few days already since Gavin had asked Connor to be his fake boyfriend over Christmas, and if that didn’t sound like the most cliché romance story ever he didn’t know what did. Exactly like one of those books his mom used to read when he was a kid, except that one of the protagonists was a girl. And one shower later Gavin could once again confirm that he was in fact not female.

As he dried his hair with a towel, a thought popped into his head.

_Did android have genitalia?_

Not that he needed to know for any reason, fuck no. But the thought of Connor looking like a fucking Ken doll down there? Weird, but also funny.

If it wasn’t so inappropriate he would ask the android, he thought as he slipped his jeans on, skin still slightly wet.

The towel now hung around his shoulders he moved towards the kitchen, hair still damp and head shaking at his own thoughts.

 _Fucking hell, Reed_ , he thought, _focus on something for once in your goddamn life._

Gift. Should he get Connor one? Maybe he should. Maybe it was unnecessary. Maybe he could just say that they’d save it for when they were back home so that it would be more private and _intimate_. Or whatever people who actually had someone to stick their tongue down their throat said.

Yeah, that’s what he’d do. Less worrying about what he’d actually get the plastic prick.

He probably should stop calling Connor things like that if he wanted to pretend to be in love with him.

 _Oh god_. Like the dumbass he was, it only dawned on him now that he had to actually act as if Connor, the android sent by CyberLife, was the love of his life. Talk about rash decisions.

Gavin could do this. Absolutely. Spite had always been one of his biggest motivators, and sticking it to his family? Always great.

But he wouldn’t get Robocop— _Connor_ a fucking gift.

 

**11:56 a.m., December 7**

“Remind me again where the fuck you’ll be going on Christmas?” Hank’s grumbling was audible from the other side of the bullpen, all the way over to Gavin’s desk where he was currently sitting, feet propped up next to his terminal and a hot mug of coffee in hand. Fuck everyone who had stared at him disapprovingly, he deserved this right now. After that last crime scene he just wanted to go home, chasing a criminal and falling face-first into a pile of muddy snow was exactly the opposite of what Gavin considered to be fun. He had been forced to change into the gym clothes he kept at the precinct which were far from warm so the coffee had to do that job for him.

And he absolutely, certainly was not eavesdropping on Detective tin can — he really needed to stop thinking that shit or else it would end up slipping through while they were with his family — and Lieutenant not-so-drunk-anymore.

Okay, maybe a bit, but everyone needed some entertainment in their lives, even if it was the sad, crappy kind of listening to his co-workers’ private conversations.

Especially if they were obviously going to talk about things that involved him, Christmas, his shitty ass family and the tin— Connor.

“I will be accompanying Detective Reed on a visit to his family in St. Louis. We will be staying there for approximately twelve days, starting on the 16th of December, and—”

“Yeah, yeah I fucking understood that. But why the hell are you going with that prick? I get that you’re trying to make friends and don’t want to be alone on your second Christmas, but couldn’t you have chosen someone nicer than fucking _Reed_?”

Gavin grimaced in mock-hurt at Hank’s words, curious for Connor’s answer. It was still a miracle to him that he had agreed so quickly, and he had made the android promise that he would keep quiet about their little scheme, but Gavin wasn’t exactly sure if Connor would hold up when it came to Hank.

“The Detective asked me to go with him, Hank, and I accepted. It might be a good opportunity to bond with a co-worker.”

Holding back a snort Gavin took another sip from his mug, almost burning his tongue.

 _Bonding_ . Sure. They’d do a lot of bonding. If pissing off his old gramps, and the rest of his family, really, by being gross and sappy could be considered _bonding_. It was almost a shame that the only cousin he had ever gotten along with wouldn’t be showing up. Now that would have been a blast.

Apparently Hank shared his amusements of Connor’s choice of words and in the distance, Gavin could see him throwing his head back in laughter.

“Bonding, alright. If you say so, son,” Hank said, still chuckling.

“I arranged for Sumo to stay with Markus, Josh, North and Simon. I trust them to feed him and take care of him just as well as I would.”

“Then why don’t ya just stay with them over the holidays?”

“I don’t think New Jericho really celebrates Christmas since it’s a human tradition through and through. And I want to experience the festivities, I told you that already.”

Gavin could hear the scolding in Connor’s voice as he said the last part, and he couldn’t help but grin. The android sounded like he was chastising a child.

“Yeah, whatever. Just promise to fucking call me if the prick even so much as touches you, one call and I’m there to break his fucking arm if he tries to hurt you.”

Whether Hank (and Connor and Gavin for that matter) liked it, there would be a lot of touching. Gavin wasn’t really sure what he should think of that. This plan really hadn’t been too well thought out now had it?

“Hank, I assure you should it be necessary I can break the Detective’s bones myself.”

A chill ran down Gavin’s spine as he listened to Connor talking about _breaking his fucking bones_ so casually. Like what the fuck. Wasn’t getting his ass handed to him in the archive room more than enough? Fucking android.

Deciding that he had had enough of their weird conversation he tuned it out, instead proceeding to drink his coffee which had reached the perfect temperature to just gulp down and get another one by now.

Once the mug was empty Gavin lifted his trainer-clad feet from the table and got up. He needed another cup if he wanted to make it through the day.

 

**6:59 p.m., December 7**

When the digits in the bottom right of his terminal turned over to 7 p.m. Gavin really had enough. His sweatpants were now sporting a huge coffee stain, the only piece of clothing that he had that wasn’t dirty or wet or cold was a thin, gray T-shirt.

With a huff, he shut down his computer and stood up. Like the idiot he was, he hadn’t brought a jacket with him. He had assumed that he wouldn’t be so fucking unlucky to get both of his hoodies wet and dirty.

As he walked out of the bullpen he was stopped by someone grabbing his shoulder. _Whoever that is_ , Gavin thought, _is in for a serious fucking asswhooping. I just want to fucking go home._

As he turned around he landed face first in a warm, dark gray coat and had to resist the urge to sigh contently before he stepped back to looked at who the fuck at stopped him from leaving.

Of course it had to be Connor.

“Detective, I’ve noticed that you are not wearing adequate clothing for the weather.”

“No shit, Sherlock,” Gavin replied, grimacing.

“I wanted to offer my coat to you. I do not get cold, so I don’t need it.”

“What the fuck, tin can? Why?”

“I don’t want you to get sick, honey,” Connor smiled at him, way too sweetly for Gavin’s taste.

A cold shiver ran down Gavin’s spine, not unlike the one he had felt upon hearing Connor talk about breaking his bones.

“No. Please, don’t ever fucking say that again. What the fuck, Connor.”

“I just wanted to practice, for when we’re with your family,” the android explained, having the decency to look apologetic.

“Yeah, then please, practice some other fucking way.”

After a few seconds of silence, Gavin grabbed the coat still held out to him.

Not sure what to say, he mumbled a quick “thank you” and stormed off, warm coat thrown over his shoulders.

 

**2:08 a.m., December 16**

With a silent prayer on his lips Gavin stuffed the last of their luggage into the trunk of his car after having played Tetris with it for the past half an hour, with Connor standing on the side, watching him as one or the other bag kept falling out.

Gavin had refused any help, because hell would freeze over before he would accept help from the tin can with something so mundane as packing his car.

The problem wasn’t even that they had packed a lot, despite Connor’s two or so suitcases of “mystery Christmas stuff” that he had refused to reveal the exact contents of, Gavin thought as he slammed the trunk lid shut, creating a loud thud in the silence of the night. The trunk of his car was just so fucking small.

The 16th had come faster than he had anticipated, and no matter how much he had tried to mentally prepare himself, he did not feel ready. Especially not as he watched Connor standing on the side of the driveway to his apartment complex in what was probably the ugliest Christmas sweater Gavin had ever seen, bright red with the face of a dog wearing antlers crocheted into it, several lights blinking around it in the most obnoxious colors. The only thing that rivalled that… mess Connor was wearing was Gavin’s own sweater, forced onto him by said android.

 _For the festive spirit_ , Connor had said.

 _Fuck off_ , Gavin had replied.

But not even he could resist brown puppy eyes staring at him sadly, so he had budged and accepted the ugly green monstrosity he was wearing right now, full of little light-up Christmas trees.

The two of them probably stood out like sore thumbs as they stood there, waiting for Gavin to finish loading their luggage into the car.

Throwing one of his smaller bags onto the backseat Gavin couldn’t help the grin of victory that made its way onto his lips. There, finally. Each piece of luggage in the car, they were ready to go.

“Fuck yeah, we’re all good to go. Now get into the car, tin can!” Gavin shouted.

**2:41 a.m., December 16**

The first half an hour or so went over well as Gavin drove through the darkness, quiet music playing from the radio only occasionally interrupted by some overly talkative radio show host.

Connor, it seemed, preferred to spent this time staring out of the window, dreaming of electric sheep or simply watching the scenery pass by as they drove onto the practically empty highway.

The holiday rush hadn’t begun yet, the roads were nice and empty because who the fuck else would think it was a good idea to drive around at 2 a.m. about a week before Christmas. Gavin and Connor, that’s who, apparently.

Both of them were quiet, letting the radio fill the silence.

After an hour or so of driving, Gavin began getting irritated at the radio program, the music was shit and despite the late hour, it was constantly interrupted.

Connor only seemed to laugh at his plight, scrolling through the phone Gavin didn’t know the android even possessed.

“Gavin, do you have any pets?” Three hours had passed by now, and somewhere along the line, Connor seemed to have gotten, well, bored. So he had started drilling Gavin with questions that either sounded like they came straight out of a small talk manual from the internet, were weird but ultimately banal, or strangely philosophic and way too much to handle for Gavin’s poor brain as he tried to focus on driving instead of the way Connor’s long fingers skillfully played with his coin while he asked his questions.

“Guess,” Gavin grinned, not taking his eyes off the road.

“You have a cat, a Maine Coon, right?”

“If ya already know, why are you asking me, dumbass?”

“Hank told me that humans often consider it intrusive if I scan them for personal information like this.”

“But you did it anyways, didn’t you?”

“It’s not something I can just turn off!” The android exclaimed, sounding just a bit affronted.

Gavin couldn’t help but laugh.

“I’m just fucking with you, tin can,” he grinned.

“If we’re supposed to play a couple, you might want to stop referring to me with such crude nicknames.”

“Well, what do you know? They could be affectionate.”

“I’ve done some research on the way couples behave, and while some seem to have rather… peculiar terms of endearment, “tin can” doesn’t seem to be among them,” Connor stated.

“Well, what else do you expect me to call you?” Gavin asked, not sure whether he was irritated or not.

On one hand, Connor was right. He needed to stop calling him tin can or various other nicknames of that caliber if they wanted to pass as deeply in love boyfriends or whatever, but on the other hand he really didn’t like being told what to do by the other.

“Honey? Sweetheart? _Darling?_ ” he teased, wondering if any of the nicknames might get a rise out of Connor.

The android just started at him, a contemplating look on his face.

“I do not feel as if those fit in with your usual speech pattern, Detective. They sound too...” Connor stopped and grimaced, appearing to look for the right word to use. “Too sweet or sappy, I’d say. I could much more easily imagine you using something to the likes of “babe” or something similar,” the android concluded, a pleased smile on his face.

Hearing the word “babe” from Connor sounded more than just a bit strange, though Gavin couldn’t deny that he was right. It was unlike him to use any of the previously mentioned pet names, the only thing he had ever really used for his partners were, and Gavin hated how correct Connor was, “babe”, “baby”, or their respective names.

With a sigh, he turned his head to Connor and raised an eyebrow. “Yeah, all-fucking-right, I’ll go with babe or some shit then. Do you want us to decide on some for you as well?”

“I think I’ve already decided that, sweetheart,” Connor grinned, and all Gavin could do as heat rose in his cheeks was curse under his breath and shake his head.

How dare the android look at him so… so as if he was actually fucking calling him that overly sappy pet name? Noticing Connor watching him expectantly he muttered: “Of course.” and turned away.

After three or four hours or so of driving, Gavin unfortunately had to admit that no, Connor really wasn’t the worst of conversation partners to have. But if someone had asked him, for whatever reason, why his face was just a bit flushed and why he was grinning, he would deny that it was because the android had actually made him laugh. More than once at that, sometimes intentionally and sometimes unintentionally, simply with his dry comebacks and adorable straight-forwardness.

After six hours Gavin was sure that he would soon have enough, his head leaning against the cold window on the passenger side of the car. Where on earth Connor had learned how to drive, or if it had been part of his programming, Gavin didn’t know and quite frankly, he didn’t care.

He was just glad to get a break from driving and having to concentrate on the road, almost hitting a deer once when they were driving along a particularly glum part of the road leading through a forest.

Even though the way Connor kept biting his lip as he watched the cars in front of them, slowing down and speeding up the car according to the traffic wasn’t helping his growing frustration.

Lips that he might need to kiss over the coming days. Which was another thing he never thought about. They hadn’t really talked about that, hadn’t talked about affection at all.

“Connor, stop the car,” Gavin blurted out without thinking. They needed to talk about this, maybe even… maybe even practice. He could feel his face heat up and had to suppress the urge to cover it with his hands. He would absolutely not do that.

“What is it?” the other asked, brown eyes never leaving the road, LED blinking blue.

“We’ve never talked about affection, fucking have we?”

“I don’t believe so, no. but why do I need to stop the car for that?” Connor inquired, but complied nevertheless and pulled over to the side of the road, stopping the car there.

Outside, it was still snowing, a thin layer of white already covering everything.

“So that we don’t get into a fucking accident while trying to discuss this shit,” Gavin grumbled, suddenly even more self-conscious than before. Why exactly had he ordered for Connor to stop the car? It had been the same impulsivity that had gotten him into this mess in the first place.

“Detective, I can assure you, nothing of the sort would happen. My reflexes are much faster than the average human’s, and I’m pretty sure I am able to hold a conversation while driving,” Connor replied a bit pointedly, and Gavin had to bite his tongue not to snap at him with a petty insult.

“Whatever, dickhead. And I told you to fucking stop calling me Detective.”

“And I asked you to refrain from using such crude nicknames for me, Gavin.”

The heat in his cheeks refused to go away still, and the way Connor pronounced his name didn’t really help.

“Yeah, alright, alright. So how about we discuss this and then get back onto the fucking road?”

“If you say so, Gavin. What is it that you wanted to discuss?”

 _That you really fucking need to stop stressing my name like this, fuckhead_ , Gavin thought to himself, biting his lip again.

“Okay, so,” he began, letting out a long sigh. “Those fuckers will probably expect us to be somewhat affectionate. Like, if we wanna make them believe we’re a couple. And remember, you agreed to this weird charade.”

“That I did. And I already figured that some form of physical affection might be required for us to pass as lovers.” _As lovers_. Somehow Connor’s choice of words made Gavin feel even more awkward than he already did, and he had to resist pulling his collar.

“Okay, just… what kinda shit would you be okay with? Like I have no fucking idea how experienced you are with any of this bullshit, or what you’d even be willing to do, I mean we could probably come up with an excuse not to kiss or some shit if—”

“I’ve noticed that you swear a lot more when you’re nervous. Are you nervous right now, Gavin?”

“Can’t you detect that with your fancy fucking scanners, tin can?” Somehow, he had slipped back into the familiar insult. Connor ignored it, leaning forward instead.

“You’re right, I don’t need to ask. But I thought you might feel more comfortable if I didn’t simply scan you for these things,” he smiled sheepishly, looking almost cute. Gavin gulped.

“I don’t have a problem with pretending to be physically affectionate with you on a regular basis while we’re there, Gavin, if that’s what you’re worried about. I agreed to your scheme, I knew it might entail something like this.” Connor brought up one of his hands to Gavin’s cheeks, LED blinking blue, yellow, blue, his eyes curiously watching Gavin. The Detective froze.

What the hell was Connor doing there?!

“Though I think we might need a little bit of practice to make it look natural.”

“Practice? Are you fucking serious?” Gavin blurted out, utterly confused. Where the hell was Connor going with this?

“I am. I have done some research on —”

“You said that before, dipshit.”

“Then why are you asking?”

“We don’t fucking need to do this, we can just make shit up as we go, right?”

His eyes didn’t leave Connor’s lips, the android’s hand felt smooth and warm against his cheek where it was still resting. Warmer than he had thought, and it was hard to deny the fact that he actually enjoyed the feeling of synthetic skin against his own.

He didn’t want to kiss the fucking tin can just because he was somewhat (read: really fucking) attractive, disgustingly ugly Christmas sweater or not. Absolutely not, there was no way he would kiss him before he absolutely needed to.

“Not that I’m doubting your abilities, Gavin, but I do think it might be beneficial for us to test the waters before having to perform in front of your family.”

“Wait, are you… are you nervous?”

“I thought that was obvious. This seems to be important to you, even if I don’t fully understand it, and I don’t want to “fuck this up” as you or Hank might have put it.

I’m not really experienced with this type of affection, so I thought it might be best for us to practice first.”

“Wait, wait, wait, hold up. Why do you even care? And have you even fucking kissed anyone before?” Gavin asked, astonished, momentarily forgetting their proximity and the gentleness of Connor’s hand on his cheek.

“We might not be the best of friends, or even really friends at all, but I agreed to this and I don’t want to ruin it. And, apart from kissing Sumo on the nose, I have not kissed anyone before, no.”

Blue. Fucking blue. Androids fucking blushed blue. It was all Gavin could think about as he watched Connor avert his eyes, his cheeks slightly flushed with the same color his LED was usually blinking in.

“Fuck, Connor, do you really want your first kiss to be with some asshole colleague? I’m sure we could find some excuse for why we don’t constantly shove our tongues down each other’s throats.”

“Why do you care, Gavin?” Connor asked, mirroring Gavin’s question from earlier. He wasn’t unfriendly in the way he spoke, simply… curious.

“Look, dude, a first kiss isn’t something you can just… get back or something. It’s a one time thing. And I’m not sure if you really want to waste that like this.”

“On the contrary, I do not believe it would be wasted. It would greatly benefit our mission, and I don’t see how it makes a big difference if we kiss now or if I make this experience with someone else.”

“It matters because— Because… Connor, are you really sure? A first kiss is really important to most humans, you usually don’t forget yours, it’s something pretty significant.”

“Do you remember yours, Detective?”

“Yeah, but that’s not the fucking point,” Gavin grumbled, wondering if he was as red as he thought he was.

“Then what is the point?” Connor asked pointedly, brown eyes now meeting gray ones again.

“The fucking point is that—”

“You know what, Detective? I think the point is that you should shut up,” Connor stated matter-of-factly, and Gavin felt himself being taken aback. Who the hell was Connor to talk to him like this? Before he could protest, however, Connor leaned in and closed his eyes, soft, smooth lips met his own.

For a second, Gavin tensed up before his own eyelids fluttered shut and he reciprocated the kiss almost involuntarily, as if his body had developed a minds of its own, moving his chapped lips against Connor’s.

It wasn’t the best kiss he had ever had, not by far, but the way Connor carefully held his cheek, the way he couldn’t resist moving his own hand up into Connor’s hair made him feel warm inside in a way he hadn’t felt in what was probably years.

It didn’t last long, and Gavin was almost disappointed when Connor removed himself and opened his eyes again, LED blue as ever, a smile forming on his lips.

Lips that had been kissing him just a few seconds ago, Gavin thought, feeling dizzy.

“That wasn’t too hard, now was it?” Connor teased, cheeks still blue with a flush that probably matched Gavin’s own, red one.

“Yeah, yeah, shut up,” Gavin grumbled. Connor simply laughed in response.

“Though I do believe that small pecks might be enough for your family, what do you think?” He asked, an unreadable expression on his face.

“Yeah, probably,” Gavin replied, still feeling his mind cloudy and confused as Connor started up the car again and took them back onto the road.

This was really not how he had expected things to go, and they weren’t even there yet.

  
The next two or so hours of their drive went over mostly quiet, soft music playing in the background, even the occasional interruption by the radio host couldn’t annoy Gavin at the moment. Not when he was still deep in thought about what had happened earlier, as the clouds that had encompassed his mind had lifted his confusion had only grown.

If Connor believed that kissing wouldn’t really be necessary, only small, short pecks in front of his relatives, why did he lean in like that, press his lips onto Gavin’s like he had?

It just didn’t make any fucking sense to him. So far, the only even somewhat logical conclusion had been that Connor had simply wanted to experience what kissing felt like, saw an opportunity and ran with it. And probably disliked it enough to not want to ever repeat it again, not with Gavin at least.

Needless to say, he didn’t really like that option.

Trying to shove away his contemplation he let his gaze drift over to Connor. The android’s eyes were locked onto the road, every now and then he hummed along softly to one of the songs on the radio.

Gavin cleared his throat as he watched Connor, trying to will away the weird feeling that had settled in his guts.

“You need to take the next exit from the highway,” he stated, voice cracking a bit. Next to him Connor nodded and started signaling.

 

**10:24 a.m., December 16**

The expression on his mother’s face when she opened the door was something Gavin would probably never forget, and he had a hard time keeping himself from laughing. His arm was looped around Connor’s waist while the other one was loaded with suitcases and luggage bags, the light-up trees on his horrible sweater shining brightly as they stood there, waiting for her to say something.

Connor, of course, wore the politest smile he had, LED cycling blue as he tried to balance the bags and suitcases in his own hands.

“Hello, Mrs. Reed, I assume?” Gavin’s mother nodded, and Gavin’s grin widened.

“My name is Connor, I’m the boyfriend your son said he would bring.” Somehow, Connor’s awkward way of introducing himself only made the whole situation even better.

“I… I guessed,” she replied, still visibly shaken.

“Please, go inside already, okay? I need to have a word with my son.” She shot Gavin a sharp glance. Connor nodded politely and grabbed what he could hold of their luggage, placing a kiss on Gavin’s temple before he went inside.

Gavin absolutely did not blush, did not secretly appreciate the fact that Connor was taller than him, and he certainly didn’t stare at Connor’s ass as he went. Absolutely not.

“A boyfriend? Gavin, are you sure? I thought you were over that phase. What happened to the girl you brought a few years ago? Tina? And did I see that right?! An android at that? Gavin, you’re thirty-seven, not seventeen, I thought you were over that rebellious, “stick it to your poor, poor family” phase,” she chastised, and Gavin immediately felt himself teleported back to his youth.

He bit his lip, holding back a snide comment but couldn’t help rolling his eyes. No matter how amusing her shock had been, being treated like a rebellious teenager was frustrating every time he came home for Christmas. He probably should do it like his cousin and just stop showing up, but somehow, for some reason, he couldn’t bring himself to.

No matter how much they annoyed and frustrated him, no matter how much he simply wanted to piss them off, they were still his family.

“Mom, we had that discussion. Tina is just a friend, it’s not a phase, I’m not a teenager anymore, blah blah blah. And now I’d like to go inside and rejoin my _boyfriend_ who is no doubt a bit lost in there.”

He didn’t even try to resist stressing the word boyfriend, the affronted look on his mother’s face made him almost crack up. Maybe he was behaving a bit like a spiteful teenager, but he knew his mother would never truly hate him, no matter how disappointed she was in his life choices.

“Gavin, couldn’t you have brought someone else? Or just no one at all?”

If he had said that hearing she would rather have him be alone than with someone she disapproved of didn’t hurt even just a bit, it would have been a lie, but Gavin had learned to tune out her comments after years and years of them.

“I thought you were happy that I finally found someone?” He asked challengingly, raising one eyebrow.

“I am, it’s just… If it had to be a guy, did it really have to be an android?”

“I’m not having this fucking conversation right now.” He crossed his arms, trying to get a glimpse into the house, looking for Connor.

“Gavin Daniel Reed, what did I tell you about swearing in my house?”

“Technically this isn’t your house, it’s grandpa’s. Can we please fucking go inside now? I’m freezing.”

She pressed her lips together, her mouth barely more than a thin line right now and with a final look, Gavin strode past her.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Next chapters will probably be posted the following days, it's all written already~


	2. Chapter 2

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> And we're back! With a uh, almost 14k chapter? Yeah. Hope you enjoy, and I absolutely can't believe I actually gave Gavin's sister's fiancé that last name. You'll see what I mean.  
> Anyways, I hope everyone had enjoyable holidays! And I hope you'll enjoy this chapter, don't forget to tell me your thoughts!

****10:32 a.m., December 16** **

 

On the inside, the house already smelled like cinnamon and cookie dough, the warmth a gift for Gavin’s half-dead fingers and nose. Connor was still standing in the hallway with a big portion of their luggage, looking around sheepishly and waiting for someone, looking like he’d been ordered but never fetched.

“You good?” Gavin asked, genuinely concerned. Who knew if someone from his family had said anything to Connor.

“Yes, I’m alright, thank you,” the android smiled, despite his LED circling yellow. Gavin would have to ask again later, maybe when they were somewhere more private.

“We’ll be staying in one of the guest rooms, come on, I’ll show you the way.”

With that, he grabbed some more of the luggage next to Connor, and walked off, knowing that the other had no choice other than to follow him.

Their room wasn’t huge, but it was the one Gavin stayed in every year and they would have to make do with it. The walls were painted mostly beige with a broad stripe of dark brown at the bottom, the furniture was sparse: a double-bed in the middle of the room, two nightstands, a drawer, a closet and a few shelves, laden with towels, various knick-knacks, mostly souvenirs, and small, potted plants.

The room was familiar to him, more than he would have liked to admit sometimes.

With a thump, he set down the suitcases he was holding and opened the closet. Behind him, Connor entered the room.

When the door closed, Gavin turned around to look at the other.

“Are you sure you’re okay? Your fucking mood ring up there is all yellow.”

“Yes, I really am, Gavin,” Connor smiled sweetly, and warmth spread in Gavin’s chest. He had never noticed how nice the android’s smile actually was. His lips tingled slightly.

“It’s just that this is an environment I am unfamiliar with, and that makes me somewhat nervous. Plus, the things you have told me about your family not being the most pleasant aren’t helping that, I hope you understand.”

“Yeah, fuck, of course I do. Let’s just hope it works out as we planned, huh?”

“Yes, let’s hope for the best,” Connor replied, still smiling, grabbing one of the bags. But instead of putting it away, he threw it onto the bed and opened it.

“Here,” he said, rummaging for something.

“Connor, I can’t fucking see what you’re doing there.”

“My apologies, Detect— Gavin. These are fairy lights I got last year, but Hank doesn’t allow me to put them up. I hope you don’t mind?”

“You do you, man. Just hurry the fuck up, we need to go and show our faces to these bastards.”

Mere minutes later, Gavin completely understood why Hank wasn’t too fond of these monstrosities. He had  thought the sweaters were bad a few hours ago, but the lights were so much worse. Connor had put them up everywhere he could tape them to, and as soon as he had plugged them in, they had started blinking in various obnoxious colors and playing Christmas songs with the most annoying high-pitched beeps Gavin had ever heard.

He was almost glad when they left the room to go see his family, those who were there already that was.

A few of Gavin’s cousins were sitting around in the living room, one of them with wife and child, a spoiled little brat, accompanied by one of his aunts and an uncle with their respective spouses and Gavin’s grandfather.

His grandmother had died when he had been around twenty-four, but his grandpa was still alive and kicking.

When the two of them entered the brightly decorated room, all eyes turned on them. Even Dana, the cousin that had apparently been tasked with putting up the baubles and decorating the tree this year turned around.

Gavin couldn’t help but squirm under their judging eyes for a second before taking Connor’s hand. They had a show to perform, after all.

“Hi, everyone. Meet Connor, the love of my life,” he proclaimed, proudly grinning as if he was actually introducing the person he planned on spending the rest of his life with to them.

Connor waved shyly to them, and Gavin didn’t even have to fake the soft smile that came to his lips. Tin can or not, he could be really fucking adorable sometimes.

The room was quiet for a second, before Dana dropped one of the baubles. It broke on the floor and the shards went flying everywhere.

“Fucking hell, Gavin, stop shitting us,” she laughed.

“Yeah,” another one of his cousins added. “That’s an android you got there. Bring that thing back where it belongs, man.”

The LED on Connor’s temple cycled red for a brief moment, Gavin squeezed his hand. Before he could reply, Connor spoke up, smiling in a sickeningly sweet way that sent cold shivers down Gavin’s spine, and not the good kind.

“I apologize for the misconception, but I am indeed Gavin’s boyfriend and I’d be very disappointed if I had to leave already. I wanted to spend Christmas with the person I plan on spending the rest of my life with, I hope that’s alright by you.”

The grin that spread on Gavin’s face felt more than a bit victorious.

“Hell yeah. And Dana, I see you’re still single, huh? Maybe you shouldn’t look down one people who actually have someone in their lives.”

The shade of red her face went stood in stark contrast to the green of the Christmas tree, and Gavin already felt heaps better. The conversation with his mother had put a dent into his mood but seeing his cousin angry like this was worth it, even if what he had said wasn’t strictly true. Technically, he didn’t have a significant other either, but his cousin didn’t need to know that.

“Gavin,” his grandfather started suddenly, too calm for Gavin’s taste. The man was usually prone to yelling, the quiet tone of voice simply didn’t suit him.

“Are you fucking kidding me?!”  _ Ah, there it is _ , Gavin thought as his grandfather slammed his hands into the table and shouted. If his mother had heard him she’d be here in a few seconds, chiding him for the language. She was the only one in the house who seemed to care about such things.

“Nope,” he answered cheerfully, dragging Connor along to sit down on the couch.

“Can’t stand seeing other people being happy, old man?”

“I care about a grandchild of mine bringing something like  _ that _ for Christmas.”

“Oh, grandpa, no need to be jealous. And Connor has a name, you know?” He plopped down onto the couch, dragging Connor with him, pulling the android into his arms.

They fit together like puzzle pieces, Gavin noticed, surprised, but not displeased. Especially when Connor shuffled closer to him, pressed into his side. Unexpected, but not bad. They were doing a great job so far.

“Sir, I apologize if my presence has caused you any discomfort, but I assure you that I am only here because —”

“Oh, look how it talks,” his aunt sneered. Gavin had always hated her, even when he had still agreed with them when it came to the whole android thing.

“I really thought it would take more than a pretty face to change your opinion, Gavin. Seems like I was mistaken,” she continued, and Gavin gritted his teeth.

Sure, working and interacting with Connor had helped him change his mind, but he had managed to pull his head out of his ass mostly on his own.

“Well, Aunt Liz, how’s your marriage? Does Dave know about what happened with that waiter last year?” It was a low-blow, sure, but he was pretty certain his whole family knew about his aunt running off with one of the waiters from the restaurant they went to last time to have a quickie in one of the bathrooms.

Aunt Liz, however, went pale, her face contorting into an expression of wrath.

“How dare you speak to me like this, you fucking brat? Your mother should’ve raised you better, no wonder you keep behaving like this,”

“Ma’am, I’d appreciate you not speaking to my boyfriend like this,” Connor cut in, a serious yet polite expression on his face.

“He shouldn’t have said that, but there is no need for name calling.”

Gavin playfully elbowed him into his ribs. “Hey, Con, I thought you were on my side!” He teased, surprising not just Connor but also himself with the easy use of a nickname.

“I am,” Connor replied. “But not when you are being rude.”

On the other side of the room, aunt Liz was still visibly fuming, her husband had left the room by now.

“Don’t you wanna go after him?” Gavin mocked.

“You little, shit, I—” Aunt Liz began, when she was interrupted by his grandfather.

“Enough! Gavin, I thought your mother told you to be on your best behavior this year, but apparently you still fail to follow what other people ask of you. Liz, I expected more from you than exploding like this because of his idiotic talk.”

“Hey!” Gavin interjected, only to be ignored.

Dave hadn’t been the only one to have left the room he just noticed, Steven and his wife and young daughter had disappeared as well.

“Your sister is bringing her fiancé, so do not ruin this for her, got it?” The old man pointed at him with one of his wrinkly fingers and Gavin huffed.

“I brought someone too, did she get the same speech?”

“No, but your sister isn’t prone to ruining events, unlike a certain someone,” a voice came from the door.

Gavin sighed as a man entered the room.

“Connor, meet my dad,” he said, completely ignoring the implications of his father’s words.

“Hello, Mr. Reed,” Connor said politely.

Gavin’s father didn’t even acknowledge his existence, but instead fixated his eyes onto his son.

“You just need to come up with something new to disturb this supposedly peaceful time every year, do you?” he asked, raising an eyebrow. Gavin hated how much the older man resembled him in this moment, with that expression, and he could feel Connor squirm at his side.

“Yup,” Gavin quipped, not wanting to show any sort of hurt. He hated being compared to his sister, and even if he had set out to make the Christmas season hell this year, he hadn’t done so on purpose the past few ones.

“Does he really have to stay?” Dana asked, rolling her eyes.

“Do  _ you _ really have to stay?” Gavin replied, eyes still lingering on his father’s form.

“I said that’s  enough!” His grandfather cut in again.

“Gavin, take your… your boyfriend and go help your mother in the kitchen,” he told him with an exasperated sigh. While being sent to kitchen duty wasn’t what he had hoped for, getting his grandpa annoyed enough to banish him and Connor to the kitchen was definitely a small victory.

He pulled up his “boyfriend” and gave him a cheeky grin. “C’mon babe, looks like they don’t want us here. Their loss.” With that, he dragged Connor out of living room, the android waving goodbye to everyone like the polite little shit he was.

**8:02 p.m., December 16**

Kitchen duty and the rest of the day went over as well as expected, consisting of bickering and bitter silence in turns with Gavin taking some sort of sadistic pride whenever one of his family members left the room frustrated and angry, whenever someone asked him if he was serious, and whenever one of them went tomato red after realizing there was no way they could be a complete dick to the android by his side when Connor was so utterly polite in everything he said.

Acting out a relationship with Connor was easier than he had previously thought. Despite one or the other awkward or unsure moment, it was nice to have someone there with him who was just as annoyed by his family’s antics as he was, even if Connor didn’t really show it unless they were in private.

_ Private _ , however, proved to be another problem: They had one bed. And Gavin had read enough shitty romance novels when he was at his lowest in regard to his taste in literature that he knew what that meant.

The fairy lights were still beeping along in their obnoxious, shrill tone, to Rudolph the red-nosed reindeer this time, when they entered the room again in the early evening. All Gavin wanted to do at the moment was throw himself between the soft sheets and pretend to be at home in his shitty little apartment and Gilbert and Nugget prancing around on his bed just as he tried to sleep, but the chatter still ringing through from the outside of the room made it clear that he was, in fact, not at home.

Without really thinking about it, Gavin pulled of the sweater he had been wearing, turning off the blinking lights and went to unbuckle his belt, when he heard Connor clear his throat.

Shit. He had completely forgotten that the android was there with him, his tired mind hazy and focused on only one thing: sleep.

“What?” He snapped at the other.

“I just wanted to make sure you were aware of my presence, Gavin.”

He turned around to look at Connor, watching as his cheeks slowly began to turn the color of his LED. Huh.

“I sure as hell am now, tin can.”

“I thought we had talked about your use of crude nicknames.”

“Fuck, yeah, I’m sorry. Listen, I just want to fucking sleep, so if you’re that uncomfortable with seeing me in a fucking tank top and boxer shorts you can just turn the fuck around until I’m in bed, alright?”

Gavin was painfully aware of the fact that they hadn’t exactly discussed sleeping arrangements, watching Connor’s blush deepen. He wondered if the android was aware of it, just as he caught a glimpse of his LED turning yellow.

“And you can uh, I don’t know man, do you even sleep?” he asked, suddenly unsure. He had never shared a room with an android before, so who could fucking blame him for not knowing whether they actually slept like humans, or did something close to that, or not. Though it would be creepy if Connor didn’t, and just… sat there all night, doing nothing.

“I do not sleep, strictly speaking. For example, I don’t dream like humans do, but I can turn off most of my functions to enter a stasis of sorts to preserve energy. It would probably be beneficial for me to do so tonight.”

So he did sleep, in a weird android way. Got it.

“Alright, I guess uh…”

“I can use a chair or just stand somewhere, no worries,” Connor stated, interrupting Gavin. His LED stayed yellow.

“Don’t you think that’d look weird if someone comes in to wake us up tomorrow?”

“Maybe, but I’m sure we can find an explanation for why we’re not sharing a bed.”

Gavin couldn’t believe what he was about to say, about to offer as he dragged one hand over his tired face, rubbing his eyes.

“Look, man, I just want to fucking sleep, but I also don’t want our fucking cover to be blown as soon as Aunt Liz decides we need to get up to help with breakfast and finds you standing in the corner like some fucking creep. I dislike this as much as you do, but just get into the fucking bed, got it?”

Maybe he disliked the idea of sharing a bed with someone, with Connor, less than he let on, but he wasn’t about to say that. After years of only having his cats to keep him company, and maybe the occasional one-night stand or Tina after the two of them fell asleep on the couch during a movie marathon, sleeping next to someone didn’t sound too bad. Even if that someone was his android colleague.

He could feel the heat creeping up in his cheeks again, but instead of paying it any mind he simply turned around and pulled off his jeans, trying not to look at Connor, not to see what the android was doing. The small glimpse of Connor biting his lip in contemplation had been enough to send a strange warmth through his stomach, to make his mind wander back to what had happened in the car.

Why on earth had Connor kissed him there, especially when he was sure it wouldn’t actually be necessary for his family? They had shared a few short pecks while here, mostly on the cheeks or temples, but never more. And somehow, it frustrated Gavin.

Shaking his head, he elected to try and ignore the weird tension in the room as he got into the bed, curling up into a ball under the covers to drive off the cold and closed his eyes. There would be more time to think about the issue, or not think about the issue, as he preferred, tomorrow.

Only a few seconds later, he felt the mattress dip next to him, the covers being lifted and he hissed at the cold gust of air that reached his back.

A soft laugh from Connor followed, and the blanket was lowered again, everything below it suddenly feeling way warmer than it had before.

Gavin didn’t dare to turn around, to look at Connor, trying to stifle the dying curiosity inside of him. Did the android sleep with his eyes closed or opened? He really shouldn’t be thinking of these things, he decided, trying to ignore the warmth that seemed to be coming closer and closer.

An arm was thrown over his waist, and Gavin couldn’t help the surprised gasp that escaped his lips.

“Calm down, Detective, it’s just me,” Connor said from behind him, voice closer than Gavin had expected.

“I fucking guessed, dipshit. What the hell are you doing?”

“I thought this might make it look more natural should someone walk in. I did some research, and I learned that most couples sleep touching each other in some way, like an arm around the other’s waist or “spooning”.

But if this makes you feel uncomfortable, I can remove myself again to give you some space. My offer for me to sleep in a chair or the like still stands.”

“Oh fucking hell, just shut up and go to sleep, Connor,” Gavin grumbled, officially done with everything. With Connor and his research, his niceness and concern about Gavin’s comfort. And maybe he enjoyed that arm around his waist just a bit as he drifted off to a peaceful sleep.

**6:17 a.m., December 17**

What Gavin expected for the following morning was to be woken up by one of his family members, maybe Aunt Liz or Dana, screeching at him to get to the kitchen and help with breakfast.

What he didn’t expect was a voice that’s he’d recognize everywhere going “Gavin, what the fuck?” at shortly after six a.m.

When he opened his eyes, trying to rub the sleep out and wiping the drool from his face he blinked, utterly confused.

There was a possibility he was still asleep, right? Because Elijah never showed up to Christmas with their family.

“Rise and shine! You have a lot of explaining to do.” Gavin couldn’t decide whether he was happy or disappointed about the fact that apparently he hadn’t dreamed up his cousin.

On one hand, this was going to be really fucking awkward. On the other, Elijah was probably just as keen on pissing off their family as he was.

“Yeah, yeah, asshole, I’m awake. What the fuck are you doing here?” he asked, sitting up.

“Can’t I wake up my favorite cousin?”

“I’m the only cousin who can fucking stand you, Eli.”

“And we both know that’s mutual, my dear Gavin. Now, can you tell me why you have the most advanced android of our time lying next to you in bed? I know you changed your mind about androids as a whole, but I didn’t expect it to be this… personal,” Elijah grinned like a Cheshire cat at Gavin, who barely resisted the urge to roll his eyes.

“When I heard that you would be bringing someone I just had to see it for myself, and this is a lot better than I expected. I imagine your parents weren’t too happy?”

“Oh, absolutely not,” Gavin replied, a proud grin stealing its way onto his lips.

“So I’m assuming this is part of some ploy, judging by your expression? And no offense, my dear cousin, but I can’t really see you and Connor here being loving boyfriends.”

“Yeah, yeah, none taken.” Maybe a little bit. “I brought him to piss off the family, and so far, it seems to work.”

“I’m glad to hear that. I have a feeling this will be a wonderful Christmas.” He grinned at Gavin for a few more seconds, before looking behind him.

“Seems like someone just woke up. Good morning, Connor,” he greeted.

Gavin could feel Connor shuffling around on the bed, and the utter  _ weirdness _ of the situation just hit him. He was still lying, or well, sitting, in bed, barely dressed with his fake boyfriend behind him, talking to his cousin dressed in a stupid suit that rivalled the Christmas sweaters Connor had brought along in its tackiness and ugliness, his cousin who coincidentally was basically responsible for the creation of said fake boyfriend. Yup, definitely weird.

“Gavin,” a low voice came from behind him, sounding somewhat raspy, vocal units probably still booting up.

“Yes, Connor?” Gavin asked calmly, turning around to look at the android.

“Why is Elijah Kamski standing in our room?”

“Because—”

“Because, though you might not see it, I’m his wonderful and loving cousin, trying to wake our dear Gavin up before any of the harpies we unfortunately consider family does so.”

“Gavin, why didn’t you tell me that Mr. Kamski would be here?”

“I didn’t think he would be,“ Gavin replied, rubbing the back of his neck.

“To be fair, I didn’t expect you to be here, either Connor,” Elijah smiled, and Gavin noticed Connor’s LED cycling yellow.

“Hey, you good, man?”

“Wow Gavin. You’re so romantic.”

“Shut up, Eli.”

Watching their bickering with a strange curiosity in his eyes, Connor nodded.

“I’m alright, don’t worry. Mr. Kamski, I would appreciate it you would allow us to get dressed now.”

“Of course. And no worries, I won’t tell on your little… scheme. I think this’ll be a wonderful Christmas.”

Gavin sighed in relief. Elijah might be the only cousin he could stand, and their relationship had actually improved a bit more since the revolution, he could be a bit much at times. And that suit was really hurting his eyes.

“And Connor,” Elijah turned around before leaving opening the door.

“There’s no need to call me Mr. Kamski. That’s so formal, considering we’re practically family now. Just call me Elijah,” he winked and left the room.

Gavin stared at the door for a few seconds, feeling somewhat puzzled before he turned to look at Connor again. Still yellow.

“You sure you’re okay.”

“Yes, Gavin. My last meeting with your— your cousin might have been a bit unpleasant, but I think I’ll be fine.”

“If you say so.” Gavin shrugged and threw away the blanket he had been huddled under, Connor’s arm no longer over his waist.

“Now, let’s get up and face the family. Ready, dipshit?”

**9:36 a.m., December 17**

“Gavin, what the hell is it wearing?”

“Dana,  _ he _ is wearing whatever the fuck he wants and looking great in it.”

Maybe that wasn’t exactly true, because not even Connor could make those tacky antlers  _ with fucking bells on them _ look good, but they did look cute, in a way. They were annoying and jingled wherever the android went, humming various Christmas songs in different languages under his breath and for Gavin’s purpose, that was absolutely perfect.

He was almost sad that Elijah’s arrival had taken some of the heat and attention off of them, since his cousin hadn’t been at one of their family gatherings for probably over a decade now, but Connor looked too happy offering everyone burnt Christmas cookies that he had brought along for him to mind.

Fake relationship or not, seeing the other smile despite his family’s behavior made him feel warm inside, and he smiled when Connor came back to him, pressing a soft kiss onto his cheek.

Physical affection still felt a bit strange to him, especially this soft and sweet type. It wasn’t something Gavin had had a lot of experience within the past few years, but somehow, it was actually, well, nice.

“That sweater is horrible, and I thought Elijah had bad taste in clothing,” Dana continued her bitching, looking over where their cousin was standing, accepting one of Connor’s cookies. He was the only one to have done so yet.

“You’re just jealous he can make anything look good,” Gavin grinned.

“Ugh, can you even hear yourself? I’ve always known you’ve been a fucking idiot but this?”

“Dana, I’m so sorry,” he replied, rolling his eyes. “That you’re so heartless that you can’t even stand people being in love.”

“Fuck you, Gavin,” she spat out, looking as if she was close to slapping him. Not that that feeling wasn’t mutual, but hitting your family members probably constituted as “ruining Christmas”.

“Connor does that enough,” he shot back, impulsively, and the look of disgust on her face made him want to both laugh out loud and groan in frustration.

Had he been this bad as well? Guilt started creeping up on him as he watched the way his family treated Connor, how they ignored him and kept making rude comments towards the android. Maybe bringing him hadn’t been such a good idea after all, he thought as he rolled his eyes at whatever Dana remarked, he was barely even listening, and walked over to Connor who had attempted to strike up a conversation with Gavin’s mother.

She kept looking at him with suspicion in her eyes, watching him closely as if Connor would do something strange any second while Connor tried to be as polite as possible, taking about various Christmas traditions or telling her about Sumo.

Gavin looped his arm around Connor’s waist, pulling him close, smiling lightly as he watched the android’s cheeks tint blue. He seemed to do that a lot these days, and Gavin would be lying if he said he wasn’t enjoying it. It made Connor look infinitely more lively.

“So, how’s handing out the cookies going, babe?” Gavin asked, watching his mother’s mouth twitch in disapproval.

“I don’t think most people like them,” Connor replied, smiling sheepishly, a little bit of sadness in his eyes. “But I can understand, I think I left them in the oven a little too long. Not even Hank wanted to try them when I offered some before he left.”

“No offense, Con, but I think “a little” is a bit of an understatement here.”

Connor playfully elbowed Gavin into his ribs, and Gavin huffed before letting a small laugh escape his lips, reveling in the sour expression his mother was now wearing.

“I’m sorry, I’m sorry, I’m just telling the truth.”

Connor rolled his eyes in response, and Gavin couldn’t help but reach up to press a kiss into the android’s cheek. As his lips touched the other’s soft, synthetic skin for a brief moment he could feel his own cheeks heating up again, a wide grin on his face as he went back to look at his mother.

“Are you okay, mom? You don’t look too happy,” he asked, almost smugly.

“I just don’t understand you, Gavin,” she groaned. “If you need me, I’ll be in the kitchen.” With that, she left them, and Connor and Gavin shared a look of triumph. It wasn’t that he hated his mother, she wasn’t the worst of the lot by far, but sometimes he just had the urge to be petty towards her, especially when it came to her constant insistence and judgement regarding his love life.

The day wore on like that, Elijah keeping mostly to himself or Gavin and Connor, popping in and out of the room seemingly at random, constantly on his phone either texting or calling someone.

Gavin had the suspicion that he was keeping in touch with Chloe, the original model, the only one who as far as Gavin knew was still with him. The two seemed to be close last time he saw them, and Gavin could fully understand his cousin not bringing the blonde android along into this mess of a family.

Connor in turn had stuck to his side all day after having tried to hand out his cookies, and so far, they had survived all the awkwardness the day had brought.

Lunch had been especially bad, Connor simply sitting there next to him, holding his hand under the table as someone, mostly aunt Liz, kept offering the android food she knew he couldn’t eat since he had told her so multiple times.

Not that she cared about that, acting affronted whenever Connor turned down something.

Gavin was thankful when they refrained from asking any weird questions about their personal lives, and he was even more thankful when they were asked to go to the grocery store to get some baking ingredients near the evening.

He suspected that they just wanted to have them out of the house, but he was nevertheless glad to get some moments away from them.

So far, they had been often met with disapproving glares and rude remarks towards Connor, and Gavin was sure he wasn’t the only one enjoying not being around them for half an hour or so at least.

Seeing Steven tug away his daughter whenever he and Connor showed any kind of affection, or watching his mother’s face twist in distaste was just a tiny bit hurtful, despite the fact that their relationship wasn’t real.

It was easy to pretend it was, and the realization caused a strange feeling to settle in Gavin’s stomach as they walked along the cold streets, snowflakes dancing around them.

His hand was firmly holding Connor’s, for the warmth, he had told himself, mind wandering to all the small pecks and displays of affection between them. They had only been here for a bit more than a day, and the whole ordeal was already driving Gavin crazy. How was he supposed to survive the next eleven days with Connor by his side, smiling so sweetly whenever Gavin teased him, kissed his cheek, complimented him? It made him feel all the more lonely, made him all the more aware of how alone he actually was in terms of romantic relationships.

And soon, they would go back to being just colleagues again. Maybe they could finally be friends after this, Gavin thought as he squeezed Connor’s hand, grocery bag in the other, shuffling just a bit closer for the warmth the android always seemed to radiate.

Had he always been this warm? Gavin wouldn’t know, he’d never been this close to Connor, and suddenly he regretted that. Maybe he should’ve tried making friends with the other, making amends, earlier. Seeing the way his family treated Connor felt like a being stabbed with a fork, spikes of guilt surging up whenever he remembered that he too used to treat androids in such a way.

As if they were below him, as if they were worthless.

Had he ever apologized to Connor for the way he had treated him? He probably should. He would, but not here. Not right now, on the way home from getting butter and sugar so that his mother could bake, under dim streetlights and heavy snowfall.

He squeezed Connor’s hand again. He would. But he would need to find the right moment first.

**7:37 p.m., December 17**

The first thing he was greeted with after setting down the bag full of groceries in the kitchen was a grinning Elijah, which immediately raised Gavin’s suspicions.

“Come on, what took you so long? They’re all waiting in the living room,” he complained, and while Gavin couldn’t put his finger on it, he immediately felt that something was  _ off _ .

This  _ “off” _ turned out to be a huge sprig of mistletoe hanging from the living room door frame, Elijah pointing at the small plant above their head, grinning wildly as Connor and Gavin stared at it, a look of utter confusion and then dawning realization on their faces.

“We put them up while you were away, and I do hope you like them. They’re pretty nice, aren’t they? And I do believe it is tradition to kiss when two people are standing below one,” he grinned and Gavin felt the intense need to murder his cousin. Was that really necessary? He knew Connor and Gavin weren’t really dating.

“Yeah, Gavin,” Dana sneered, “Besides a few small pecks you two don’t seem to really kiss, and I wonder why. Are you sure you’re not actually embarrassed of your little toy there?”

“Dana, I have a suggestion for you: How about you shut the fuck up?”

“Gavin!” His mother exclaimed, but he just rolled his eyes and ignored her, just as he did with Connor tugging on his sleeve.

“I would appreciate not being talked at as if I was not present,” Connor interjected, and Gavin could feel the android moving closer to him.

“Right, I’m sorry babe. But seriously, what the hell?” He demanded, Elijah only grinning. “Oh, don’t look at me like this, dear cousin, it wasn’t just my idea to put these up.”

“I think I’d even prefer Connor’s stupid fucking fairy lights,” Gavin huffed, much to Connor’s dismay.

“They are not stupid,” he shot back, now visibly nervous.

“You gonna fucking kiss or even better, just move away and stop standing in the hallway? We have better things to do than watching you and robo boy there bicker.” Gavin’s uncle complained, and was promptly added to the list of people Gavin absolutely wanted to strangle.

He could just walk away, sure, but he didn’t want to give in to Dana and have her think he was ashamed of Connor, fake relationship or not, or even worse, have their cover blown.

With a sigh, he turned towards Connor, searching for agreement in his eyes, for anything that showed him that Connor was okay with this.

“If you’re all so keen on watching me kiss my boyfriend,” he grumbled and pulled Connor down towards him, one hand gently placed on the back of the android’s neck.

He was painfully aware of the people watching them, some gasping in surprise, some probably looking at them with disgust, some most likely turning away.

But Connor’s soft lips against his entirely made up for it, and for a brief second Gavin thought that if he could simply spend his whole life kissing Connor, he absolutely would, no doubt.

When they broke apart he could feel himself flush, breathing shallow and uneven as he turned back to his family, all of which looked visibly uncomfortable.

Maybe he could use that.

“And? Enjoyed the show?” he mocked, now pulling Connor with him again to sit down on the couch. No one replied, the only reaction he got that wasn’t an eyeroll or a sneer was Elijah giving him a thumbs up.

It would absolutely be a long eleven days.

**8:03 a.m., December 18**

Aunt Liz didn’t look pleased. Not at all, and Gavin couldn’t imagine why.

Okay, maybe he could. Maybe he and Connor had been kissing at each and every opportunity they had had over the past two days now, and every mistletoe that had mysteriously disappeared over night had been put back where it had been, with one or two additional ones.

That hadn’t been their doing, but Gavin heavily suspected Elijah to be behind it.

And right now, Aunt Liz was standing in the doorway to their room, mouth agape in shock as she looked at them, Connor straddling Gavin’s hips and Gavin lying beneath him, shirt ridden up and face flushed.

They had known that someone would come to wake them up around ten this time, Aunt Liz had told them beforehand that someone would, so they had set an alarm clock to ring about fifteen minutes earlier, throwing pillows at each other and messing up each other’s hair to convincingly look as if they had just been caught about to have a nice round of morning sex.

Without a word, aunt Liz turned around again and slammed the door shut, and all Gavin could do was start laughing. The expression on her face had been hilarious, and he’d be lying if he said he didn’t enjoy having Connor sitting on his lap, straddling him, face flushed blue and lips wet from licking them, hair tousled from their pillow fight.

Connor joined in into his laughter even if a bit more reluctant and suddenly leaned forward, resting his forehead on Gavin’s shoulder.

Gavin froze, his laughter dying in his throat.

“I don’t think your aunt was very happy about this, Gavin,” Connor said quietly, voice a bit breathless.

“That was the point, dipshit,” Gavin replied, unable to resist the urge to bring his hand up into Connor’s hair, softly caressing it.

Over the past few days, interactions like these had become extremely natural for them, at least in front of Gavin’s family. Touching each other felt like a second nature by now, Gavin thought as he kept lazily running his fingers through the other’s hair, unwilling to get up.

“They’re probably waiting for us,” Connor whispered suddenly, propping himself up on his elbows to look at Gavin.

“Who cares? Also, if we stay here for a bit longer, they might think we actually had a go at it,” Gavin grinned, wiggling his eyebrows. Maybe the wish was selfish, to remain like this for a bit more, but he couldn’t bring himself to care.

Fake or not, lying here with Connor like this was lot nicer than he had ever imagined, not that he had imagined it before.

The silence between them was comfortable, in a way Gavin hadn’t experienced it in a while. Connor had leaned forward again, his soft breathing on Gavin’s shoulder was calming, relaxing, and he felt himself smile.

“Remember when you asked me about my cat?” He said suddenly, not exactly sure where he was going with this or why he had started speaking in the first place.

“Yes, I do. Why?” He asked, propping himself up again so he was looking at the other.

“His name is Gilbert. I actually have another cat, was pretty surprised you didn’t mention it. Her name is Fucknugget.”

Connor snorted, and despite the slight mechanical edge of the sound Gavin couldn’t help but want to hear it again.

“Who named her?”

“I did, of course. Maybe I was a bit drunk. I usually just call her Nugget, though.”

“Tell me about them. How are they?”

“They’re both a pain in the ass, but in different ways. Gilbert is a little bitch, he thinks he owns the place. Fucknugget is a hurricane of chaos, despite how small she is. They also keep stealing my fucking bed.”

The way Connor looked at him, with such a warmth, such an interest in his eyes, a light smile on his lips as he nodded along to what Gavin said made his heart skip a beat and Gavin couldn’t stop himself from smiling back.

“Who is watching them?”

“W-what?” Gavin spluttered, confused for a moment.

“Who is watching the cats while we’re here?” Connor inquired, a curious look on his face.

“My neighbor. Ms. Fitzpatrick. She’s probably the definition of crazy cat lady, and I have no doubt should I ever disappear she’d just fucking take them. But I know she can deal with the brats, so I asked her to watch them.”

Connor nodded, apparently satisfied with the answer.

“W-what about you? Anderson’s got a dog, right?” Gavin’s voice wavered slightly, and he gulped as he noticed the way Connor’s eyes lit up upon the mention of Anderson’s dog.

“Yes! His name is Sumo, and he’s a Saint Bernard. He looks very big and intimidating, but he’s actually a gentle giant, much like Hank.” Now it was Gavin’s turn to let out a small laugh, and Connor seemed to pout,  _ actually pout _ as he did.

“Are you making fun of me?”

“I would never,” Gavin grinned, grimacing in mock-hurt as Connor playfully slapped his arm.

“Sure, Gavin.”

For a moment they returned to the comfortable silence they had had before.

“Gavin, can I ask you a personal question?”

“Let me guess, you’re gonna ask anyways, no matter what I say?” Gavin teased, quirking up an eyebrow.

“Why do you come here every year? You seem to hate it.”

“Well, unfortunately, family is family, and I’m not bastard enough to completely cut off the ties with them. They’re a disaster, but they’re kinda my disaster, y’know? No matter how much I enjoy pissing them off,” he ended with a grin.

Connor gave him a contemplating look before pressing on.

“Why didn’t you ever tell anyone you were related to Elijah Kamski?”

Gavin sighed. He should’ve expected that question.

“I just wanted to be more than “Kamski’s cousin”, ya feel? We’re on good terms, better now that I’ve pulled my fucking head out of my ass, but I still don’t want people sucking up to me or being nice to me only because I’m related to that fucker.”

“I think I understand. It’s hard trying to be more than what you are, especially if that what is something you have no control over.”

“Connor—” Gavin gulped. He knew all too well how he had treated him based on just that, and felt more than just a bit guilty.

“I’m not saying that because of the way our interactions went in the past,” Connor interrupted him, dragging a thumb along Gavin’s cheek.

“I’m saying this because I want you to know that I understand what you mean. I’ve been trying very hard to let people see that I’m more than an android, more than the “deviant hunter”, and I feel like I’m getting a bit closer to that every day.” He smiled, and Gavin couldn’t help but smile back.

“I think I really need to apologize to you, Connor. No amount of reasons or family history can excuse the way I fucking treated you, hell, I held a gun to you face more than once.” The words just tumbled out, without Gavin really planning on saying them, now watching for Connor’s reaction.

The android looked oddly calm, his LED blinking yellow.

“I know, but so did Hank. So did many others. If I held everyone accountable for everything they did without ever letting go, I would have no one to turn to. I would have to hate myself, because I did things that were just as bad, if not worse.”

“Connor, I—”

“Can we please change the subject?” Suddenly, there was an exhaustion of Connor’s face that Gavin hadn’t seen on the android before.

“Alright,” he sighed, hoping that Connor actually meant what he said. That he didn’t actually hate Gavin.

Slowly, he started propping himself up again, already missing the warmth Connor had radiated as the other slipped away, watching him silently for a few seconds before clearing his throat.

“Maybe we should actually go and see what they’re up to today,” he suggested. Being so close to Connor, being alone with him was starting to drive him crazy, especially as he watched the android’s tongue dart forward, licking his lips before biting them, contemplating.

“You’re probably right,” he said after a few seconds of silence, getting up from where he had been sitting, hair still tousled and shirt looking rumpled.

“Should I get dressed? In my regular clothing I mean?”

“Nah,” Gavin grinned, watching the other form his spot in the bed. “Their expressions will be way funnier this way.”

Eventually, he got up himself, not even bothering to put on socks or slippers and pulled open the door, Connor following behind him.

The smell that filled the hallway was simply delicious, and Gavin was  _ living _ . If there was one good thing about visiting his family, it was the food. It was a real shame that Connor wasn’t able to taste it he would’ve loved to see the android’s expression upon trying his mother’s amazing pancakes.

When they wandered into the kitchen, aunt Liz was accompanying his mother as she flipped a pancake around in the pan.

Aunt Liz’ face was tomato red, and all the talk in the small room stopped as soon as Gavin and Connor walked in, grinning and with Gavin’s arm thrown around Connor’s waist.

“I smell breakfast,” Gavin said, mouth already watering.

“I smell something else,” Elijah snorted, only to be ignored by everyone.

“Yes, but you have to wait in the living room like everyone else. And make sure to say hello to Rebecca, yes?”

Gavin paled. So his sister was here. With her prick of a fiancé. Or maybe he wasn’t a prick. But if he put up with his sister, he had to be at least somewhat of a douchebag.

“Got it,” he affirmed before dragging Connor out of the kitchen with him, barely giving the android time to give them a polite little wave.

Rebecca was a tall woman, with dark hair almost the same shade as Gavin’s and green eyes unlike his own. She was currently sitting on the couch with a man Gavin assumed was her fiancé, right on the spot that Gavin and Connor had claimed as theirs over the past few days and Gavin was already fuming.

Connor’s hand on his back seemed to calm a little, even if only a bit.

When she spotted them she stood up, a fake, happy smile on her lips.

“Gavin! It’s been so long, have you met Eddie yet? And you brought… your household assistant android I assume? That’s such a brilliant idea, so much less cleaning for us to do! Now come, I want to introduce you to Eddie, he’s such a sweet guy, you’ll love him!” She exclaimed excitedly, grabbing his arm.

Gavin had no other choice then to let himself be dragged along.

The man on the couch, a pretentious looking man with thick hipster glasses and short, light hair was watching him with a curious, appraisive look in his eyes.

“Eddie, this is my brother, Gavin,” Rebecca stated, grinning, and all Gavin wanted was for her to shut up.

“’m Gavin,” he said, wanting this to be over.

“Eddie Schwanzgesicht,” came the reply and Gavin could hear Connor behind him trying to stifle a laugh. Not that he could blame the android, the name sounded weird and pretentious. Eddie stretched out a hand to shake Gavin’s, and he took it, grabbing it more firmly than he strictly needed to.

“Nice to meet you, Eddie Shwans-ge-bitch,” he grinned before letting go, the displeased look on the man’s face not going unnoticed to him, Elijah choking on his drink in the background.

He pulled Connor’s hand so the other was standing next to him.

“Eddie, Becca, meet Connor. My boyfriend.”

Rebecca begin to laugh, almost hysterically. “Oh Gavin, I knew you had a sense of humor. But not even you would stoop so low to date an  _ android _ . Does he even have a dick?” She asked, giving Connor a once-over.

“Miss, I can assure you that Gavin is not joking. We are indeed together, and while it’s not of your business I assure you that I am fully equipped and fully functional.” Well, at least Gavin’s question about android genitals was answered now.

Becca’s eyes widened in disbelief. “Gavin, you can’t be serious!”

“Hey, it’s better than dating someone whose last name sounds like someone just fucking key-smashed.”

“He’s not wrong,” Elijah chimed in in the background.

“Oh shut up. What are you even doing here? Don’t you wanna go back to your little recluse home and fuck your robots?”

“Oh, you hurt me, Becca. Are you perhaps jealous that both me and Gavin have found love while you have, hm,  _ that _ ?”

Love? Was Kamski actually dating that android girl? He shouldn’t have been so surprised, but he kind of was. He didn’t take his cousin to be the type for relationships at all, even less so than he himself was.

“What did you just say?!” Rebecca screeched, and Gavin had to stop himself from laughing, instead hiding it behind a cough. Next to him, Connor shuffled closer, and Eddie grabbed Rebecca’s arm.

“Dear, those two really aren’t worth getting angry over,” he smiled at her, and Gavin almost made puking noises.

“Can’t you behave for a few minutes?!” Gavin’s father suddenly bellowed, having entered the room just a few seconds ago.

“Tell that to your oh so perfect daughter,” Gavin shot back.

“Gavin Daniel Reed, I will not tolerate this.”

“Yeah, yeah, whatever.”

“Gavin—”

“Can you please stop fighting? Breakfast is ready,” his mother interrupted, and Gavin didn’t think he had ever been so happy to hear her voice.

Sitting down at the table, Gavin placed his chair as close to Connor’s as he could without anyone shooing them apart and started placing heaps of pancakes on his plate.

Steve and his little family were staying with friends close-by since the house didn’t have enough room for them all, and suddenly he was more than grateful for not having a crying, screaming toddler here. Rebecca was enough.

“So, Gavin,” Rebecca began, pointing her fork at him, “where did you and uh… Conrad meet?”

“Me and  _ Connor _ met at work,” he grumbled back.

“Oh, so he was a cleaning android at your police station? You’re still a cop, right? Or have they they already fire you?”

“Actually, I’m one of his colleagues. I’m a Detective, I work alongside Lieutenant Anderson. I was specifically designed for police investigative work.”

“An android Detective, huh?” She asked, raising an eyebrow, and Gavin couldn’t help but wince as he thought back to his and Connor’s early encounters. He had sounded just like her.

“Yes, Miss.”

“Well, you see, Eddie is a  _ lawyer _ . A pretty successful one at that! He graduated with honors, right, darling?”

The rest of the table seemed to ignore them as Eddie smiled at her. “That I did.”

“He could probably name you each and every single law we have in this country!”

“Well, Connor could break each and every one of your bones and name them while he’s at it,” Gavin shot back without thinking, and next to him Connor smiled sweetly, almost sheepishly, Gavin suddenly thinking about the conversation between Connor and Hank that he had eavesdropped on in the precinct.

“Gavin,” he protested weakly, looking as if he was trying to suppress a grin, but Gavin just smiled and took his hand, softly rubbing circles into the back of his hand with his thumb, trying to put on the most lovestruck expression he could muster.

By the expression on his sister’s face, he actually succeeded, and she looked mildly intimidated.

If there was one family member he hadn’t missed, it was his sister.

They had never gotten along well, ever since they had been children, and it had only gotten worse as adults.

“That’s… very interesting,  _ brother _ ,” he replied, trying to put on a fake smile and mask her previous expression.

“But I’m sure it doesn’t compare to how many cases Eddie has won recently! He’s such a successful lawyer, it’s amazing!”

“Yeah, really amazing how he keeps criminals from going to jail. Besides, Connor has the highest rate of solving cases at the precinct, no matter how much I’d love to be that person.” It stung a bit, yes, but there wasn’t much Gavin could do. And right now, he could use it against his sister.

“Did I ever tell you that Eddie was part of the national ping pong team?”

Gavin snorted. “Ping pong? Are you serious? That’s the lamest shit I’ve ever heard.”

“I doubt your little robo boyfriend has been on any national teams,” she sneered.

“Well, not any national teams, but national television,” Gavin proclaimed loudly, digging is fork into his pancakes with more force than necessary.

“Oh? How so? Finally got desperate enough to go onto one of those reality TV shows with your toy?”

“Miss, I have to ask you stop using such derogatory language towards me. You wouldn’t like it if I called you a bitch, right?”

Gavin couldn’t hold back his laughter as he looked at the shock on her face. “Gavin” Tell it to behave!”

“Sorry,  _ Becca _ , Connor is his own person and does as he pleases.”

“And it’s usually Gavin who  _ listens _ if you get what I’m saying,” Elijah chimed in, wiggling his eyebrows.

“Oh, shut up you lying bastard,” Gavin shot back, returning his attention to his sister.

“As I wanted to say before you so rudely interrupted me, Connor was on national television because he led an army of androids during the revolution. But that’s pretty lame compared to ping pong, isn’t it?”

“Oh, it sure is,” Becca smiled, but Gavin could see the strain behind it. She was trying to grasp for straws, for anything to make herself and Eddie look better than him and Connor.

“Oh, darling, didn’t you have that modeling job back in the days?” She smiled wistfully, as if she had bested Gavin now. “I photographed him, and that was our first meeting. It was such a beautiful day, and he looked gorgeous! Can you believe I met this beautiful, smart, talented man through this hobby of mine! Do you remember, Eddie?”

“Of course I do, honey.”

“When I first met Connor I was on the night shift and they found a body in a fucking crackhouse. Then, he licked blood off the floor and later that week he absolutely handed my ass to me and I immediately fell in love with this dork,” Gavin countered, talking as if the story was one of great romance.

“Only you could actually be into the robot that beat you up, Gavin.”

“I apologized for my actions and there ceased to be any bad blood between us. We didn’t immediately start dating after the incident, it took some time to properly get used to each other,” Connor smiled and leaned over to Gavin, pressing a kiss onto his temple.

The android was a better actor than Gavin had ever imagined.

“And I’m very happy we did,” he continued, smiling that same sweet smile again that made Gavin’s insides melt.

Why the tin can suddenly had that effect on him, he didn’t know.

“Wait, Gavin, hold up. Did you just say it licked  _ blood off the floor _ ?!”

“Yeah, it’s his weird analyzing system. Don’t worry, I make him clean his mouth before kissing him, I don’t want that shit near me.” Had Connor actually cleaned his mouth after the last time he had licked some dubious liquid off the floor? Gavin threw him a questioning glance that Connor just answered with an encouraging look. For the sake of his sanity, he’d take that as a yes.

“That’s… Really more than I needed to know, Gavin.”

Hah. Mission accomplished, Gavin thought, a triumphant grin on his lips in contrast to his sister’s disgusted expression.

“I think I lost my appetite. Honey, would you be okay with laying down a bit?” She turned towards Eddie. “After all, we have a long drive behind us, and I’m sure you must be tired as well.”

With a smirk, Gavin wished them good-bye, continuing to rub circles into Connor’s hand and smiling even as his sister glared at him.

**1:16 p.m., December 19**

“So, Conrad, you’re a Detective, right?” Eddie asked with a raised eyebrow, and Gavin snorted from where he was sitting on the couch, idly chatting with his mother about the most banal things that seemed to come to her mind.

She seemed to be the only one whose hostility towards Connor had somehow lessened, smiling and politely declining his offer to help with cooking.

The tree had been set up by now and the lights were lit, the low light in the room would have created a warm and cozy feeling that evening if it hadn’t been for, well, the fact that this was Gavin’s family.

“Yes, I am, Mr. Schwanzgesicht,” Connor answered, nice as ever, and Gavin had to bite his lip to keep himself from laughing. Connor always made an effort to address Eddie by his last name, and in a private moment they had managed to catch earlier he had explained to Gavin that the man’s last name didn’t just sound funny, but had an actual, rather obscene meaning in German.

After that, Gavin hadn’t been able to look at his sister’s fiancé without almost bursting out into laughter. The name did fit quite well.

“When were you, hm, manufactured?”

“I think I completed my first mission on August 5 th , 2038. Why are you asking?”

“Oh, I was just thinking. You seem to have gotten the job as a Detective pretty quickly, and you did remind me of some other models I saw in commercials, before the revolution and all. What were those called? HR400?”

That fucking bastard. Was he insinuating what Gavin thought he was?

“I’d be interested to know where you actually heard about those, especially in a way that lead you to memorize their model. HR400 models typically weren’t advertised in regular magazines since they were specifically designed for companionship at clubs such as the Eden Club. Though I do hope you know that reducing androids to their model number is considered pretty rude.”

Gavin could kiss Connor. The look of shock and fury on Eddie’s face was absolutely priceless.

“I just meant to ask how you managed to climb the ladder so quickly. From what my sweet Becca told me, her brother took years to get where you are.”

Forget kissing Connor, Gavin was gonna punch that bastard. Next to him, his mother sighed and tried to keep his attention on her, but Gavin was only half-listening at this point, curious for Connor’s answer.

“I was specifically designed with police investigation in mind, so it makes sense that I had an easier time with it. But Gavin worked incredibly hard for everything he has, and I personally think that’s worth a lot more than someone achieving something solely based on what they are or their background.”

Okay, back to kissing Connor. He hadn’t expected the android to say that, and while he knew Connor needed to play nice with him while they were here, the response seemed so genuine that Gavin couldn’t help himself and got up, walking over to Connor and pressing a soft kiss into his cheek.

“Thank you, babe,” he grinned, watching Connor’s eyes light up before he returned to his mother.

Eddie seemed to ignore the display in front of him, and simply went on.

“I think you’re pretty brave, Connor. Doing such a job, being in an android-human relationship, the way you dress… you seem to have a lot of courage. I wish I could be this confident.”

“My confidence comes from the fact that I love all of these things and know what I’m doing is the right thing. I hope you can find a way to feel like this about your life and relationship as well,” Connor smiled sweetly and Gavin choked on his own spit, earning him a disapproving glance from his mother.

“I think my life is pretty good,” Eddie responded, obviously annoyed. “I have a beautiful fiancée and a well-paying job, what more could I ask for?”

“If you’re happy with that.” The polite smile never left Connor’s lips and all Gavin could do was watch him talk to Eddie, mocking him in the nicest way possible.

“I am. However, I’m wondering… You seem to be a very, hm,  _ sweet _ , hm, guy, how come you are in a relationship with Gavin? My dear Becca always seems to think he’s an asshole.”

“Eddie, I have to ask you to refrain from using such language,” Gavin’s mother chimed in, and despite the mild hurt that she didn’t correct him on his perception of Gavin, he felt a spark of happiness at Eddie being called out for something by his mother, even if it was trivial.

“Of course, Ma’am, I apologize. But my question still stands.” He threw Gavin a sharp glance before returning his gaze to Connor.

“Thank you, Mr. Schwanzgesicht, but I can assure you that your impression is wrong. I wouldn’t just base my opinion off of someone else’s, I believe that might be counterproductive. Isn’t that something you as a lawyer should know, that you can’t derive facts from people’s opinions only?”

“Of course, I apologize. Though I do have to say I trust my Becca, she’s usually a great judge of character.”

“The only reason you think so is so she suck your di—”

“Gavin!” His mother chastised him, a horrified expression on her face.

“Sorry,” he said with a grin that showed that he in fact wasn’t sorry at all.

“As I said, my darling is a great judge of character, and so far I haven’t had any reason to question her perception of your, hm, partner. “

“It’s nice to see how much you trust her, Mr. Schwanzgesicht. I hope the same goes for her as well?” Connor tilted his head slightly.

“I… Of course!” Eddie replied, eyes wandering to the living room door.

**7:21 p.m., December 19**

“And you really don’t eat?”

Eddie’s questioning never seemed to cease since it had started yesterday, and even Gavin’s mother had noticed how much he was interrogating poor Connor by now, to the point where she had mentioned it to Gavin and had given in to Connor’s constant offers of helping her in the kitchen, making him peel potatoes and the like for dinner.

Connor was a great kitchen aid as long as you didn’t allow him near a stove.

“No, I don’t. Most androids aren’t designed to, only very few actually have the hardware to ingest food.”

“Babe, you’re not google, you don’t have to answer all of his questions,” Gavin cut it, becoming increasingly annoyed. Where was Eddie going with this? He couldn’t fathom the man being the type to simply be interested in the technical side of androids, not with the way he kept looking at Connor as if he were somehow below him. For some reason the interest Eddie seemed to be showing in his fake boyfriend and androids in general irked Gavin, even if it probably wasn’t earnest.

Connor took his hand and started drawing patterns into his palm with his index finger, smiling sweetly. “I really don’t mind, sweetheart, if I can do anything to help make uninformed humans more familiar with us androids, I will.”

Eddie seemed to be very affronted at being called uninformed, much to Gavin’s amusement.

“Whatever you say, Con.” He grinned and gently gave Connor a short peck on the lips, watching the android flush lightly, a sight Gavin could look at for days on end.

“Cut it out, you two lovebirds,” Elijah shot at them from where he was sitting at the other side of the table.

“That sappy look, oh my. This is worse than that one time, remember, when I came to visit you and when I opened the door, Gavin was wearing nothing more than bunny ears and looking all love-sick at—”

What. “Elijah!” Gavin shouted, turning tomato red. Maybe he could get away with strangling him if he was discreet about it and asked Connor to help him hide the body.

“Oh Gavin, there’s no need to by ashamed! I mean, it wasn’t the most comfortable situation, but—”

“Elijah, for the love of god, please be quiet,” Gavin’s mother interjected.

Multiple heads nodded along to her request and Gavin couldn’t do anything other than bury his head in his hands, Connor’s fingers running over his back, the android whispering assuring words while Elijah continued to make up the weirdest stories that seemed to come to him.

Gavin had absolutely changed his mind, especially when the words “sexy nurse costume” and “whip” left his cousin’s mouth. He would have really preferred Christmas without him.

**5:34 p.m., December 22**

None of them could look Connor or Gavin in the eyes after the whole ordeal with Elijah, and his cousin seemed to bask in the weird stares all three of them were getting.

Gavin’s mother had even approached him, asking him whether what Elijah had told had been the truth and if there was something she needed to worry about. He wasn’t sure if she had truly believed his red-headed explanations that no, Elijah was just being weird and found making up outrageous stories about his and Connor’s sex life (a sentence that had only left his mouth under a lot of stuttering and with averted eyes) incredibly funny.

She then had proceeded to ask him about said non-existent sex life and even teased him about at least not needing to worry about accidental pregnancy. Despite everything she had at least partially started to warm up to Connor in her own way. It wasn’t as if she suddenly approved of their relationship, though technically it didn’t even existing, Gavin had to remind himself as he willed down the warmth in his cheeks and that started to creep up lately whenever he thought of the stupidly adorable android with his tons of ugly Christmas sweaters and stupid antler and fairy light and various other decoration strewn around the guest room they were staying in, but she seemed to dislike him a great deal less than his other relatives, save for Elijah who had taken to talking to Connor about whatever new technological shit he had come up whenever he was bored.

The android’s eyes always seemed to brighten every time he was trusted with a new idea, a new little Easter egg, a new concept and a big part of Gavin wished that his face could keep that beautiful expression forever.

Maybe the kitchen duties had helped his mother get more comfortable around Connor, Gavin mused as he watched the android putting up a miniature version of a Christmas tree onto one of the night stands, probably no taller than the length of his forearm, his tongue caught between his lips in concentration. Maybe he actually needed to thank Eddie for that, though all he really wanted to do was punch the prick in the face.

The man was still utterly rude to Connor in the most roundabout ways, asking invasive questions and giving backhanded compliments whenever the opportunity or he simply felt like it, Rebecca next to him snickering behind her hand, clearly more than amused by the android’s earnest answers and optimism that Gavin had come to adore the past few days.

He just hoped that the whole situation wasn’t putting too much of a strain on Connor, but he was glad to have brought him along with him. Not just because it was amusing watching his family get angry, but because Connor genuinely seemed to lighten the mood for him all the time, making him laugh and smile when usually all he did during the holidays was frown and wish for them to be over.

Not that he still didn’t want to go home again, but it was much more bearable this way. And a small part of him was also becoming increasingly worried about what their relationship would look like once they returned to Detroit:

Would they be friends now?

Or would they go back to being simply colleagues, friendly but ultimately forgetting about the whole ordeal? Gavin couldn’t really imagine it, not with all the kisses and lazy mornings in bed they had shared, the talking and laughing, with all his partly real and partly feigned annoyance about Connor’s endlessly adorable love for all kinds of Christmas decorations and traditions, humming a new song from various different languages under his breath all the time.

He had been surprised, even though he really shouldn’t have been, when Connor had told him that he spoke multiple languages and had researched all kind of Christmas songs and traditions from different cultures. It was just such a Connor thing to do that Gavin hadn’t been able to contain his bright smile.

What then had surprised him about that whole thing was when Connor had mentioned Eddie and his last name, face blue and biting his lip as if trying to keep himself from laughing.

He then had as calmly as possible explained that Eddie’s name was, in fact, not just some word vomit but may have a pretty obscene meaning in German of all things, roughly translating to “tail face” (which was weird, but nothing incredibly amusing to Gavin) or, and Connor had almost lost it when trying to get the word out, face flushed blue and biting his lip so hard Gavin was sure he’d draw Thirium soon, “dickface”. Gavin had stared at him in silence for all of two seconds before asking whether Connor was serious before bursting out in laughter upon seeing Connor nod, doubling over as he noticed the android letting loose and joining in, cackling like a maniac. The name was just to fitting, he had thought. And Connor’s laugh was just so beautiful, despite the slight mechanical sound there always was to it, as it hadn’t been a sound that had been intended to be made by his vocal cords. It was perfect nonetheless, and Gavin knew he probably went as red as a tomato when the thought ran through his mind, but he could always blame it as a side effect of his fit of laughter.

If he hadn’t been able to take Eddie seriously with his hipster glasses and lack of sense for fashion that rivalled Elijah’s (although being a great deal less amusing), he was now absolutely unable to look at the man without cracking up.

Gavin almost wished he was able to pronounce the jumbled mess of letters the word was, Connor had even offered to teach him which he had declined, instead taking to purposely mispronouncing and butchering the name in the worst ways possible, watching Eddie’s face turn sour at being called “Mr. Swine-eh-bitch”.

Maybe it had been a bit much, Gavin suddenly thought as Eddie’s face started becoming redder and redder, Rebecca taking his hand and kissing his cheek in a sickeningly sweet display of affection, whispering what was probably words of encouragement to her fiancé.

Naturally, Gavin couldn’t let himself be one-upped like this and looped Connor’s arm around his shoulders, snuggling into him on the cozy couch they, and his sister and Eddie, were sitting one, letting out an exaggerated smile and putting on the most lovestruck expression he had.

Connor’s eyes widened in surprise for a moment before Gavin discreetly gestured to Rebecca and Eddie with his chin before proceeding to lean against Connor some more, taking his hand and drawing circles and patterns into the back of it with his thumb, smiling as he felt Connor shift against him and rest his cheek on the top of Gavin’s head.

Eddie and Rebecca seemed to notice and shot them a dirty look, 

competitiveness burning in Becca’s eyes before she softly placed her hand on Eddie’s cheek and nuzzled her nose against his, then placing a soft peck on his lips.

Bitch.

But what she could do, he could do as well, and he could do it better. He let his hand wander up Connor’s arm, resting it on the back of the other’s head, looking up at him, smiling softly, unintelligible whispering the details of his last case to Connor in a tone that made it seem like he was muttering love declarations .

Connor flushed and smiled back at him, eyes warm and inviting and Gavin leaned forward, carefully kissing him on the cheek and on the nose before returning to his original position of leaning against the android’s side.

It felt almost natural, and the thought was just a bit scary.

But there was no time to dwell on that right now, Gavin decided, watching his sister go red with what was probably both embarrassment and anger, a frown on her face as she turned back to Eddie, running a hand through his hair, basically singing his praises before kissing him again, more deeply this time, not even pretending that the whole display wasn’t for show anymore.

Gavin gave in to the immature urge to mimic gagging noises before turning to Connor with a smirk on his lips.

He watched as Connor’s brows furrowed in confusion, watched his face relax again when Gavin put a hand on his cheek, softly caressing the synthetic skin with his thumb before pushing himself up a little and pressing his lips onto the android’s, closing his eyes after taking in Connor’s beautiful expression as confusion, realization, embarrassment and finally something that looked like excitement and happiness ran over his face in rapid succession before the android’s eyelids fluttered shut.

Connor’s lips felt soft against his, just as soft as they had been when they had kissed in the car and under the mistletoe, as soft as they were whenever he placed small pecks, barely anything, really, on them.

Was this really already the third time they kissed like this? Really kissed, not just a small touch of lips against cheeks or foreheads or temples or lips.

Gavin leaned a bit closer into Connor’s comforting warmth, feeling the android’s hand play with the hair on the back of his neck, feeling himself smile into the kiss every so slightly, completely forgetting that they weren’t alone.

_ I could get used to this _ , Gavin suddenly thought, shuffling even closer, moving his lips against Connor’s with more fierceness than before, when someone clearing their throat made them break apart, Gavin’s heart beating rapidly in his chest, face flushed from both the kiss and the embarrassment as it suddenly came back to him how not alone they had been.

“What the hell are you doing? Can’t you do— do that in your damn room?!” Aunt Liz screeched, looking at them in shock. Next to them on the couch, Rebecca and Eddie were snickering as if Aunt Liz looking at Gavin and Connor with a horrified expression was the funniest thing that could’ve happen, and Gavin shot them a dark glare before turning back to Aunt Liz.

“It’s bad enough that you bring this thing here, it was bad enough having to hear those stories from Elijah, it was bad enough watching those at least chaste kisses, but this?! This is unacceptable, Gavin!”

“Hey, Becca and Eddie were eating face over there as well,” he rolled his eyes in response, squeezing Connor’s hand. It was obvious that the android was getting more and more uncomfortable.

“Yeah, but Becca isn’t making out with a glorified fleshlight,” Dana commented, looking as disgusted as aunt Liz.

Gavin was almost glad his mother wasn’t here at the moment because she probably would have had a heart attack not just because of the events on the couch, but because of Dana’s language.

“I forbid being talked to like this,” Connor interjected stiffly, LED cycling yellow and face a robotic masked, knuckles white from holding onto Gavin’s hand tightly, the other running his thumb over his hand in an attempt to relax the android a bit.

“I don’t fucking care, robo boy, I have enough. Gavin on his own is bad enough, but bringing his little android sex toy and shoving this shit into our faces?! That’s fucking bad even for you, cousin.”

Sometimes words did seem to have enough impact to feel as if they had just punched you in the guts. Rebecca and Eddie kept laughing, not even trying to hide it anymore, Gavin’s grandfather was watching the altercation from where he was sitting at the table, his uncle, his uncle’s wife and Aunt Liz’ husband next to him, his cousin Steve and his wife and daughter had disappeared by now.

Gavin felt all eyes on them and he squirmed, unintentionally shuffling closer to Connor.

“I thought you mother told you not to ruin this Christmas, but it seems that’s out of the realm of possibilities here. We put up with this long enough!” Aunt Liz almost bellowed, crossing her arms.

Gavin was fuming. Sure, he  _ had _ planned on pissing them off for Christmas, but this was really uncalled for, especially towards Connor.

“You know what? No.”

“No?” Aunt Liz asked skeptically, raising one of her eyebrows.

“No.  _ We’ve _ put up with your bullshit for long enough. I’m sorry neither of you two can stand people being happy and yes, androids are fucking people now, pull your fucking head out of your fucking ass like I did. I’m not the one ruining Christmas here,” he shot back and jumped to his feet, pulling Connor with him.

“C’mon Con, let’s go to our room. Some people here obviously have a fucking problem,” he spit out still glaring at his aunt, cousin and sister before making his way to the door, never letting go of Connor’s hand.

He almost wished Elijah was here right now, then maybe they wouldn’t feel so lost here.

Their room at least was a small sanctuary, full of ridiculously over-the-top Christmas decoration, the fairy lights Connor had put up on their first day quietly singing their songs and even now, Connor hummed along, making Gavin smile lightly as he dropped down onto the bed, now letting go of the android’s hand and dragging his own across his face.

“I’m sorry, Connor,” he said after a few minutes of silence, watching as Connor paced through the room, constantly correcting small details on his decorations.

“What for?” His LED was still yellow, but his voice was less stiff now.

“For—” Gavin sighed. “For bringing you here. I know they’d be angry, but I didn’t expect it to get this out of hand.”

“It’s fine.” There was a sort of sad smile on Connor’s face and it was almost unbearable to look at.

“It’s not fucking fine! Have you heard them?!”

“I have, Gavin, my auditory processors are fully functional.”

“Then how can you be okay with this?!”

“I’m not okay with it, I don’t think they’re right in doing this. But people have said and done worse things to me, and if I let these things affect my well-being, I don’t think I’d even be able to function properly.”

“I— I’m sorry,” Gavin whispered, unsure what he was apologizing for.

“You seem to apologize an awful lot these days, Gavin,” Connor teased, a small mischievous spark in his eyes despite his LED still cycling yellow.

“Well, there’s a lot of shit I need to make up for.” Gavin smiled at him sheepishly, hoping Connor would please just stop pacing around soon. It was getting harder and harder to watch the android’s distress, no matter how well he thought he was hiding it.

“Gavin, I told you already: I forgive you. And their actions aren’t your fault.” Connor finally slowed down and walked over to where Gavin was sitting on the edge of the bed. For a second, Connor was completely still and quiet, biting his lip while Gavin looked at him in confusion, before he crouched down and brought his hand to Gavin’s face, grazing his skin with the side of his hand. Gavin’s heart skipped a beat.

“If anyone needs to apologize for this, it’s them,” Connor said softly.

“Connor, no, I should be the one comforting you here, not this way around!” Gavin replied, unable to hold back the soft huff of laughter that escaped him.

“Sometimes that’s the way things are,” Connor smiled. Gavin leaned into the touch of his and closed his eyes for a brief second.

“Your LED is still yellow,” he pointed out after a moment of comfortable silence.

“Yes, I— While I try not to let it get to me, I  _ am _ a little bit stressed, I suppose.”

“Is there anything I can do?”

“Thank you but— maybe there is.”

“Then tell me, dipshit,” he teased. The familiar insult held no heat or malice, feeling more like an odd nickname of sorts.

“Would you be alright if we went somewhere else tomorrow? Sightseeing maybe? Or just some general activities away from the house so that everyone can calm their nerves a bit.”  _ Like a date?  _ Gavin wondered suddenly before shoving the thought away. Connor smiled sweetly and Gavin felt warm inside.

“Sure, Con.” There was no need for the nickname. They were in private. Gavin did it anyways. “How about… hm… there’s the ice rink? Have you ever been ice skating?”

“I haven’t.” That sweet smile again. “I would love to go ice skating with you, Gavin.”

His heart skipped a beat, sped up, suddenly he was hyper aware of the hand on his cheek, still caressing it softly.

“Uh— yeah, that’s uh— yeah that’s great,” he stuttered, face heating up.

“We could, uh, we could also visit the arch afterwards? It’s— it’s really pretty this time in winter,” he suggestion, pleased to see that Connor’s LED was starting to return to blue.

“Yeah. I’d love that.”

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Two things: a) Connor's Christmas lights are based on some I have myself. I'm only allowed to put them up in my room. They're my favorite thing ever.  
> b) There's actually a small story behind Eddie's last name. A few years ago, a friend of mine wrote "Hugo Schwanzgesicht" on her test instead of her name, and to this day, I find that funnier than I should. So Eddie's weird last name was born. Yeah.


	3. Chapter 3

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> So here we are. Last chapter. On the last day of the year (it's the 31st here already okay, I'm just excited). I think this is a great way to end the year, and i'm super happy and grateful for everyone who stuck with me and my stories throughout the year, thank you all so much! I hope you enjoy!

**2:13 p.m., December 23**

The wind felt cold against his skin, and Gavin pulled the scarf up farther to cover his mouth and nose as they walked towards the ice rink, side by side, hands brushing against each other’s but not really touching, not holding onto each other. Gavin wasn’t even surprised anymore to find himself wanting to intertwine his fingers with the android’s; habit was one hell of a drug, it seemed.

They had left right after what had probably been the most awkward lunch ever, telling his mother where they would be going and then practically sneaking out to avoid any and all potential drama.

On their way, they had stopped to get coffee for Gavin, and he already missed the warmth of the cup in his hands as they finally entered the building.

He hadn’t been here in ages, probably hadn’t visited the place in almost twenty years. It had changed, obviously. It looked more modern now, less old and run-down than it had been in his youth. The rink was still the same moderately sized area, the small restaurant that had been on the second floor had made way for another, different one.

There wasn’t a huge crowd, a few families and couples skating. No wonder, it was the day before Christmas eve and most people had probably already driven away to visit family and friends, were busy last-minute gift shopping or simply staying at home and enjoying themselves in the cozy warmth.

“C’mon, you can check out the whole thing later,” Gavin grinned as he noticed Connor’s gaze wandering around the rink, grabbing his hand and pulling him towards the counter so they could pay the entry fee and each rent a pair of ice skates.

They wandered downstairs with their hands still clasped together.

As soon as they had put on their skates and moved onto the ice, Gavin had learned one thing: state of the art prototype his ass. Despite being the most advanced android there was, Connor was absolutely shit at ice skating, and Gavin watched him struggle and almost fall over before grabbing onto the boards to steady himself. Holding back his laughter was a challenge, not just because watching Connor bumble around was hilarious, which is was, but because it was simply  _ adorable _ to watch him concentrate and try and fail and try again.

After a few minutes of Connor almost falling over Gavin sighed, a grin still on his face and moved closer to the other, extending his hand.

“You’re doing it all wrong, Connor. Can’t your super computer brain just download how this shit works?” Connor took Gavin’s hand.

“Theoretically, I could. But I wanted to try it on my own.”

There was a proud expression on his face, and Gavin’s smile widened.

“Okay, dipshit, I’ll show you how this works.”

Teaching Connor how to ice skate had been a feat, and definitely not an easy one, but after more than a few failed attempts and Connor falling onto his ass more times than Gavin could count, clinging to Gavin while desperate trying to stay on his feet before dragging the other down with him he seemed to get the hang of it, skating alongside Gavin with a smile on his face, laughing and talking happily.

Despite that, he had still refused to let go of the other’s hand, claiming that he felt more secure when holding it, since he was “still new to this”. Gavin certainly didn’t mind, not when Connor looked so… excited. Happy. Adorable.

His family and the whole ordeal that happened the day before was forgotten as he listened to Connor blabber on about another dog or something funny Hank had said, as Gavin dragged him around on the ice, speeding up and making wild curves, smiling as the android laughed out loud, beautifully as always. Gavin wanted to record it and listen to it over and over again.

And for this moment, he didn’t question it. Didn’t question the way he felt warm inside just by looking at Connor, or the way he wanted to hold the other’s hand and kiss him again.

So he did. Just a short, chaste peck on the lips as the stopped at the side of the rink, and Connor’s eyes widened in confusion.

Shit.

“Gavin— I— there is no one here we need to pretend for,” he reminded him softly, and Gavin’s face started burning up. Connor was absolutely right.

“I know, just, uh, I think it was just force of habit, you know?” He said, rubbing the back of his neck.

Connor nodded, and Gavin thought he had imagined a slight look of disappointment on the other’s face.

“I understand.”

“Let’s just… Let’s just keep going, okay?” Gavin suggested, hoping the awkward tension would dissolve as they got back onto the ice, fingers intertwined again.

Gavin honestly couldn’t remember when he had felt this comfortable in a person’s presence that wasn’t Chris or Tina, despite the occasional weirdness.

 

**4:27 p.m., December 23**

“Do you think we can do this more often, Gavin?” Connor asked, smiling softly as they walked towards the exit about two hours later, faces flushed from the activity and the cold, both of them smiling.

“If there are any nice ice rinks in Detroit, sure,” Gavin replied without thinking, immediately cursing himself again. Who knew if he and Connor would even be friends, or  _ anything _ when they returned home?

But Connor’s blinding grin made him feel almost hopeful that whatever this was right now, they could maybe, just maybe, keep it.

“I’d like that very much.”

“Mhm,” Gavin hummed contently.

“Where to now?”

“The arch?” He suggested as they go back into the warm car.

Connor needed in agreement and Gavin started up the engine, trying to focus on what he was doing and not on Connor, who had taken out his coin and started playing with it. He hadn’t seen the small object at all whilst they were with his family. Weird.

“Connor, can I ask you something?” The car engine started and they exited the parking lot.

“Of course.”

“Why haven’t I seen you with that coin while we were with my family?”

Next to him Connor frowned.

“I’m not sure, I think. I normally use the coin when I need to keep my hands busy or when I need to concentrate or recalibrate, sometimes when I need to calm myself.”

“I’m sure there were many situations for the latter,” Gavin mused, wincing a bit at the thought.

“Yes, but— Usually, we — I think usually I was holding your hand whenever I needed to busy them with something, so I wouldn’t have been able to use it anyways.”

Gavin nodded, content with the explanation, but also noticing the faint tinge of blue on the android’s cheeks.

 

**5:52 p.m., December 23**

The arch was beautiful at night, there was no denying that. Gavin had always enjoyed visiting it, not as much with his family, but he had been there with Tina once, walking through the park and trying various different foods, joking around and just chatting.

Somehow, it felt different with Connor.  _ Like a date? _ Rushed through his mind again. Gavin shook his head. He liked it, like this, liked walking next to Connor and chatting with him, all soft voices and happy smiles.

His hands were freezing cold, the food that he had gotten earlier that had filled his stomach and warmed his fingers gone by now, his gloves forgotten.

Suddenly, he felt fingers intertwine with his, and he looked up at Connor.

“My scanners sense that your fingers are extremely cold,” Connor said by way of an explanation, smiling softly as he closed his hand around Gavin’s.

“Let me warm them up.”

“I— shit, yeah thank you,” he splutter, sighing contently at the warmth that bled from Connor’s hands. Had they always been this warm? Gavin couldn’t imagine that, but maybe it was simply the fact that his own had been just short of falling off from the cold.

“How about we go up on the arch later?” He suggested, using his free hand, the one that wasn’t holding Connor’s, the thought still seemed both weird and normal by now, to point towards it. “I haven’t really been up there yet, but I’ve heard it’s pretty neat.”

Connor’s flushed face seemed to pale a bit, and his LED blinked yellow.

“Hey, you okay, Con?” Gavin asked.

“I am, no need to worry. But if that’s alright by you I would prefer staying on the ground.”

“Why?” they came to a halt, stood still near one of the park benches, and Gavin involuntarily huddles closer for the warmth Connor was radiating.

Connor hesitated, eyes glancing around nervously for a second, LED bright yellow, before he looked back at Gavin, determination in his eyes.

“My very first mission, before I came to the DPD, was a hostage situation. And android, a PL600, his name was Daniel, had taken a little girl hostage. Her parents wanted to replace him with a newer android, and he snapped when he found out.”

Connor let out a shaky breath, visible against the cold air. Gavin squeezed his hand tightly, hoping it would be comforting, encouraging.

“I managed to save her, but I had to throw myself off the roof with him. I— I don’t remember what it feels like to die, I— I had uploaded my memory to CyberLife’s databases just before my previous model was destroyed. But I remember falling.”

He was shaking slightly, his LED red as he looked at Gavin, appearing to be searching for something in the other’s eyes.

“I’m— That’s shit, I’m sorry that happened to you,” Gavin attempted to comfort him. Connor simply smiled, sad and wistful, squeezing Gavin’s hand tightly now too.

“Thank you. It’s been almost two and a half years now, but…”

“That shit affects you for a long time,” Gavin replied.

“I assume you’re speaking out of experience?” Connor asked quietly, and Gavin nodded. The android had trusted him with something that was clearly very personal, and Gavin felt the need— not an obligation, simply the urge to confide in the other as well.

“I can’t remember when exactly it was. I had only been on the force for a few years, my then partner has retired since.” He gulped, No turning back now.

“We were at this apartment complex with a witness to check out an apartment, see if he recognized it. My partner wanted to question the landlord and sent me upstairs, so I got into the elevator with the witness. Witness my ass though.” He sneered coldly, looking at Connor as the android watched him with an unreadable expression on his face.

 

“The guy was our perp, but well, we didn’t know that. So as soon as we got into the elevator, he stopped that thing, it was an old apartment complex and you could still do that shit. So he stopped it, it got all dark and I’m already not the biggest fan of small spaces.

The dude got out a knife and tried to stab me, actually managed to even, I still have the scar. I had to shoot him in self-defense, but I was stuck there with his fucking body because this old as shit elevator needed to be set into motion again and the call for help button was fucking broken.

I refused to use elevators for about three or four years after that incident, and I still prefer using the stairs,” he ended, looking at Connor, searching for any kind of reaction.

The android’s LED circled yellow, and he watched Gavin with a calm expression on his face, a small smile on his lips.

“Thank you for telling me, Gavin,” he whispered, thankfulness in his voice.

“I thought maybe hearing that you’re not the only one affected by something like that might be, I don’t know, encouraging?” He tried, now also smiling.

“Yes, I think it is. And I’m sorry that happened to you.”

“Don’t be. All those years of only taking the stairs gave me great legs,” he joked.

“I’ve noticed,” Connor replied, and for a moment Gavin was stunned. Was the android flirting with him? No, there was no reason for him to.

“C’mon, let’s keep moving before I free my balls off,” he told him instead. Gavin was still Connor’s hand as he dragged him along the park, watching the lit-up arch and the snowy landscape, sometimes chatting about small things, about dogs and books and movies and songs, but mostly simply walking in silence, enjoying each other’s company. At one point, Gavin had impulsively bought a snow globe from one of the souvenir vendors when Connor had been distracted.

They were walking under a streetlight when Connor suddenly stopped and changed directions, steering a mildly confused Gavin towards the big Christmas tree that had been built up in the park.

“I like Christmas trees,” he smiled, looking up at the beautifully decorated pine tree.

“Would you have put up one if you hadn’t come here? At Hank’s house I mean;” Gavin asked curiously.

“I’m not sure. Maybe. But I wouldn’t have done it without his permission. Or without someone to help me, I— Christmas doesn’t seem like something you should celebrate alone.”

“What would you have done if you haven’t come here?”

“I would have simply stayed at home with Sumo.” He smiled as he mentioned the dog, but it didn’t quite reach his eyes. “Maybe I would have visited Markus and North and Simon and Josh, even though they don’t really celebrate Christmas.

Have you ever brought someone else along?”

“What?” Gavin felt slightly taken aback by the question.

“I’m just— I’m just curious whether you ever brought someone else with you to your family.” Connor looked away.

“Yeah, sure. Never as like, a boyfriend though. Brought Tina once, but y’know, we’re both gay as shit so that was just so she wouldn’t have to spend it alone in our apartment, that was before she moved out to go live with her girlfriend,” he recounted, smiling at the thought of her. He missed living with Tina, but he was happy for her.

“I see,” Connor replied, smiling again.

“Do you regret coming along?”

“I— No.”

“No?” Gavin asked, unsure what to make of that.

“Don’t misunderstand me, your family is… not the most pleasant, certainly not. But I greatly enjoyed spending time with you and getting to know you better and seeing some other parts of the US other than just Detroit. Today in particular was… was a very nice day and I wouldn’t want to have missed that.”

“I’m happy to hear that,” Gavin replied, smiling.

“Here, wait,” he then said, remembering the small object he had stuffed into his jacket pocket. With his free hand he reached inside and pulled out a small snow globe of the arch, artificial snow whirling around.

Connor’s eyes lit up as Gavin held out the globe to him.

“Here, I saw it earlier and uh, I uh, I thought you might like it?” Gavin said, suddenly self-conscious.

“Gavin, you really didn’t have to,” Connor responded softly, eyes fixated on the small object he was holding.

“But I wanted to.” The light in Connor’s eyes at the sight of the small present was beautiful, and it only then occurred to Gavin that unlike humans who had had tons of birthdays and Christmas Eves to exchange presents, the android probably had rarely gotten any gifts before.

As Connor looked at the globe with a soft smile on his face, fingers still intertwined with his Gavin made the decision that he would get Connor something for Christmas. Something for him to remember their time here, in a positive light hopefully, not just a silly souvenir he impulsively bought, but something that held meaning for them.

Whatever that was, Gavin wondered for a brief moment as he resisted the urge to lean in and kiss Connor once more.

**7:46 p.m., December 23**

The urge persisted, not leaving his mind for a single second even as they got into the car and started their journey back home, the snowflakes whirling around the vehicle as they drove along the dark streets, headlights bright to be able to see anything at all.

They stumbled back into the house, laughing and joking and Gavin still showing Connor pictures of Gilbert and Nugget on his phone, Connor cooing and  chuckling and laughing at whatever shenanigans Gavin’s cats had gotten up to, eyes shining brightly and cheeks flushed from both the laughter and the cold, and for a moment, Gavin almost believed what they had pretended to be was more than an act, was maybe even a tiny bit real.

He shook his head at the absurdity of the thought and took off his coat, leaving it on one of the coat hangers in the hallway. Connor did the same, both moving as quietly as they could, careful to avoid Gavin’s family. This day was supposed to belong to them, supposed to be calm and without much drama, just for the sake of their nerves, but that would be a thing of the past if they now ran into Aunt Liz or maybe Dana.

Quietly as possible they made their way back to their room, ignoring the talking and laughter coming from the other side of the house, the door falling shut behind them with a soft thud.

Gavin sighed in relief and kicked his shoes off, throwing himself face-first onto the bed, Connor’s soft laughter in the background as the android took off his own boots and neatly placed them next to the door.

“Tired?” He teased, and Gavin just groaned from where he was still lying, face pressed into the pillow.

“Mhm,” he simply replied, and Connor chuckled.

“I’d advise you to change into your nightwear first before going to sleep.”

“Fuck you, you’re not my mom.”

Another laugh, Gavin couldn’t help but smile. He loved hearing Connor laugh.

“Thankfully I am not, but you still need to change.”

“Make me,” Gavin mumbled into his pillow.

“And how would I do that?”

“I don’t know, dipshit, that’s on you to figure that out. I’m not the brains here.”

“You’re not being very cooperative, Gavin, and I also think you’re giving yourself too little credit.”

“Yeah, yeah, whatever.”

Next to him, the mattress dipped.  _ Connor must’ve sat down _ , Gavin realized.

A hand began running through his hair and Gavin sighed contently. This was also something he could get used to. Wanted to get used to.

He really needed to get back into dating, he had been alone for way too long. But strangely, whenever he now tried to imagine being with someone, all he could think of was Connor. Stupid brain making stupid habits.

“Please, for me?” Connor asked quietly, voice nearer than Gavin had expected it to be.

He turned his head around to look at the android and groaned. How could anyone resist those big, brown puppy eyes when they looked at him like that? Impossible.

Propping himself up on his elbows, now almost on the same height as Connor, he noticed the other smiled victoriously.

Stupid fucking android. With his stupid, stunning brown eyes, his stupid pretty grin, his stupid gorgeous, adorable, handsome, beautiful face, his stupid soft lips.

Gavin hesitated, distracted, and slipped as he tried to get up. With a yelp he grabbed onto Connor’s button-up shirt, trying to steady himself. Instead, he managed to pull the android down with him, Connor catching himself on his hands, face only inches away from Gavin’s, the blue on his face deepening, LED cycling blue at a rapid pace.

“Gavin?” He whispered, and the way he said it sent shivers down Gavin’s spine and he wanted nothing more than to pull the other down by his stupid dress shirt and kiss him but all he could do was stare.

His hand seemed to develop its mind of its own as it wandered up from Connor’s shoulder to his neck, fingers making their way into soft, brown locks, Connor’s eyes fluttering shut as Gavin started running them through it, a small smile on his face.

There was a strange expression in Connor’s eyes as he opened them again, looking at Gavin, biting his lip, face tinted blue.

 

Gavin’s own gaze wandered down to Connor’s lips, unable to tear himself away, pulling the android closer without even really meaning to, hand still tangled in his hair, licking his own lips.

Without thinking about it, Gavin closed the distance between them, watching Connor’s eyes widen in surprise before he closed them, his own drop as he felt Connor shift and cup his face with both hands, changing positions so he was now effectively straddling Gavin’s lap, pushing himself closer, moving his lips along Gavin’s, thumbs caressing his cheeks and the soft stubble on his face.

Warmth started pooling in Gavin’s stomach and he had to tear away to breathe, watching Connor pant before leaning in again, not allowing himself to think about what he was doing, pressing their lips together, hungrier, deeper this time. He wanted, no, needed more of this, needed Connor closer to him.

His other hand began running along Connor’s side, dipping below his shirt, the soft feeling of synthetic skin and lean muscle under his fingertips, his own heavy breathing mixing with Connor’s as he brushed his tongue against the other’s lips, begging to be let it.

After a moment of hesitation, Connor parted his lips and Gavin pulled him even closer than before, one hand still tangled in his hair, the other roaming the android’s body, not a sheet fitting beneath them, his pants beginning to feel tight, Connor radiating  warmth, quick, shallow breaths coming over their lips, mixing together until it was impossible to tell which one the soft sighs and quiet moans belonged to who when Connor’s hand began moving down from Gavin’s face.

A loud thud of something being dropped made them break apart hastily, creating distance as if they had been burned. Maybe they had, Gavin thought. He certainly felt that way as he watched Connor’s LED blink yellow, watched him trying to collect his breathing and steady himself where he was now sitting at the foot of the bed, hair tousled and face blue with a flush that probably rivalled the deep heat in Gavin’s own cheeks.

He hadn’t even known that the android’s breathing could be affected by… this. None of their kisses had been like this before, this was entirely new and weird and— something he shouldn’t have done. He didn’t know why he had kissed Connor, it had just felt like the natural thing to do. And he was sure he wasn’t the only one who had enjoyed it more than he should have, but— still.

Kissing Connor like this was a bad idea. Especially with all those strange whirlwinds of thoughts that had been going on in his mind lately, this was only adding fuel to the fire.

“I—” he began, unsure what to say, pants still uncomfortably tight and face red and flushed.

“I— I’m gonna take a shower.”

“Yes, that— that might be a good idea,” Connor responded, unable to look him the eyes, and Gavin immediately felt bad as he got up and gathered a t-shirt and a fresh pair of boxer shorts. Had he ruined it? Had he ruined whatever they had been building up, whatever that was? This strange friendship of theirs? It wasn’t like he could blame habit on it, not for this one. There hadn’t been anyone around to watch, no one to judge, no one to act for, it hadn’t been a small peck that he could blame on being so used to acting with his family.

No, this was entirely his doing, he realized as he closed the bathroom door behind him.

The cold water helped to soothe his nerves and everything else that needed some soothing and calming down despite the shivers running down his body due to the low temperature.

When he was sure that the cold shower had worked its magic he turned the heat up a bit, sighing contently as the warm water hit his skin. He couldn’t get the feeling of Connor’s lips against his out of his head, of Connor’s body beneath his hands, Connor’s hands all over him and  _ fuck _ he should’ve stuck to the cold shower. Gavin cursed under his breath and just turned the shower off.

He stepped out and dried himself off before slipping into his clothes, the soft fabric comfortable and warm. There was no way around going out there again and facing Connor, he knew it.

Should he apologize? There was no way of knowing what the android was thinking, his expression and tone of voice had been entirely unreadable to Gavin’s mushy brain when he had practically made a run for the shower. 

Maybe he should just go on and forget the whole ordeal ever happened.

Yeah, that was probably the best course of action, he decided as he opened the door.

Forget this thing ever happened, get up early tomorrow to buy a gift for Connor because despite it all, he still wanted to see the android’s eyes light up again like they had when he had given him the snow globe, and then get the whole holiday thing over with and go home.

He really fucking missed Gil and Nugget and Tina, even if he didn’t particularly miss his shitty apartment.

But he was certain he’d miss Connor, although right now he didn’t really want to think about it.

The android seemed to already be in bed, lying on the very edge of the bed, as far away from the middle as possible. Gavin felt a small pang in his chest.

They had spent the last few nights huddled together in the middle of the bed, fighting for the covers and Gavin basking in the warmth Connor always seemed to radiate, but that seemed to be off the table for today.

It hurt, knowing that what happened earlier seemed to have upset the android enough to move so far away from him. Unsure whether he should say something Gavin got into the bed and curled up beneath the covers, listening to Connor’s soft, synthetic breath. He had gotten so used to the sound of it in the past few days that it was almost impossible to imagine falling asleep without it.

It was strange how used one could get to another person in such a short amount of time he mused as he pressed his eyes shut. Hopefully sleep would come soon and he could leave early tomorrow, possibly even before Connor woke up so he could surprise him with the gift.

Maybe some time apart, some time to think would help them. Maybe it would solve whatever mess he had created here. With that in mind, Gavin slipped into a fitful sleep.

**7:21 a.m., December 24**

Okay, maybe going to Elijah’s hotel at seven in the morning hadn’t been the best idea, Gavin thought as he stood face to face with a blonde android ( _ That’s Chloe, you idiot, his tired brain supplied _ ) who looked just as confused as he felt after having knocked on Elijah’s room door for almost five minutes.

He had left as early as he could, leaving a note for Connor telling him that he needed to do something and that he’d be back in the evening, that Connor should try and enjoy the day on his own. Gavin really hoped Connor would be able to have a somewhat peaceful day despite being alone with his family.

“Gavin?” She asked, her voice clear and sweet, eyes still wide. She seemed even livelier today than she had seemed when they had last met, shortly after the revolution.

“Yeah, that’s me. Is Elijah there?”

“Yes. Should I wake him up for you?”

“Would be nice, yeah.”

She nodded and went back inside without another word, and Gavin took it as an invitation to walk into the room as well, closing the door behind him before leaning against it, crossing his arms as he watched Chloe gently wake up Elijah with a sweet smile on her face, a strange sort of jealousy rushing through him.

It was just a bit unfair that his weird, eccentric cousin had someone wake him up like this when all he usually had were two needy and hungry cats.

Elijah seemed more than a bit surprised to see Gavin standing in the door frame but he got up nevertheless, greeting him with a lazy “good morning” before disappearing into the bathroom.

“I didn’t know you were here with him,” Gavin blurted out suddenly after a few minutes of silence.

“He didn’t want to leave me alone in Detroit, and I didn’t want to spend Christmas on my own, so I agreed to come along,” she responded, a fond smile playing on her lips. “But after what he told me, I completely understand why he wouldn’t take me to see his family.”

Gavin nodded.

Before they could continue their conversation, the bathroom door was opened and Elijah stepped out, now fully clothed and with contact lenses instead of the glasses he had hastily grabbed from the night stand and thrown on.

“So, my dear cousin, what brings you here at” — he glanced at the clock — “seven in the morning? I assume it’s important?”

“It is,” Gavin replied, heart beating loudly in his chest, feeling himself squirm under Elijah’s questioning glance.

“Pray tell.”

“I— I need a Christmas present for Connor.”

“Why for Connor?” Chloe asked, confused. For a second, Gavin wondered if she had been involved in the unpleasant run-in Connor had had with Elijah.

“I’m not sure what Eli told you, but I brought him with me as my fake boyfriend to piss off our family.”

“And now you realized your undying love to him and want me to help you find a present for the love of your life so you can life happily ever after,” Elijah asked, raising an eyebrow.

Gavin could feel himself flush.

“What? No! I just need a present for him because I forgot to buy one earlier but I have no fucking clue what, and trust me I wouldn’t fucking ask you if I had any other choice.”

“I was merely teasing, no need for such foul language. Chloe, dear, do you want to come with us?”

“I wouldn’t see why not, if that’s alright by you, Gavin?”

“Yeah, sure, why not. Can we just please get going?” Gavin asked, nervously pulling on the hem of his sweater. One of Connor’s ugly Christmas sweaters.

**1:12 p.m., December 24**

Gavin wasn’t sure what he had expected. If he had expected this to be easier, he had been an utter fool, he thought as he rammed his fork into his food with more force than needed.

They had stopped to get something to eat after endless searching in shop after shop, never finding a gift that good enough, that was just right. There had been a lot that had been alright, good even, but none of them had really, well, clicked, and by this point he was probably driving Elijah and Chloe insane.

Observing the two had been a strange experience, they seemed to be distant and close at the same time, something that could mostly be attributed to Elijah’s attempts at hiding himself away from the public eye and his aversion to public displays of affection.

But when looked at closely it was easy to see that they meant a lot to each other, and it filled Gavin with warmth and made his heart ache with longing at the same time.

Longing for what, he wasn’t sure, and any suspicion, any notion that it might have to do with a certain android was fought down. It was hard not to think of him and Gavin desperately wished for Connor to be by his side as he dragged Elijah and Chloe into the next shop, yet again not finding anything that was to his satisfaction, but it wasn’t as if he could take Connor to go shopping for his own gift.

Missing the android as much as he did had almost come as a surprise to him if it hadn’t been for that small, traitorous voice in the back of his mind, telling him that there was a reason why he missed Connor so much, insisting even when Gavin tried to muffle it, blinking brightly like a neon sign in his mind.

He really needed to get done with this and get home.

They took a small break from their relentless searching and walked through a small park nearby, all that was on Gavin’s mind was his and Connor’s date evening in the park, the soft smile on the android’s face, his hand in Gavin’s.

Elijah and Chloe kept sharing knowing glances but Gavin just shot them dark glares.

They walked past an advertisement for an ice rink, and all Gavin could picture was him and Connor as they had been skating yesterday, Connor’s hand firmly in his, the android letting himself be pulled along.

A store selling ugly Christmas sweaters, and Gavin could feel his chest become warm and heavy at the same time as he thought of Connor in one of those monstrosities, they reminded him of the one Gavin himself was currently wearing, of the ones the android loved so much.

Another store, nothing.

A cooking book? No, that would be insulting. Besides, Connor could simply download the recipes and it wasn’t as if that had helped.

One of those ugly Christmas sweaters? No, Connor had enough of those.

A keychain? Did Connor even have keys?

At some point, Gavin started feeling hopeless. He hadn’t planned on buying any gift for the android at first, and now here he was, desperately searching for a gift. It was almost laughable.

The sun began to set around half past five pm and they had wandered around and eaten and looked and searched for almost nine hours now, yet they still hadn’t found anything.

Gavin had even contemplated asking Tina if she had any tips for him, but he didn’t want to explain the whole mess he had created to her, not right now.

So he kept going, kept going into every store he saw, until he finally, maybe, hopefully found something.

_ A beanie, with dog ears on it. _

_ Christmas baubles, a set, beautifully decorated yet colorful and funny, some shaped like normal baubles and some like cupcakes and dog faces and ginger bread houses. _

His last hope had been a small thrift store hidden away in a small alleyway, cozy as they entered it, slow, quiet Christmas music playing in the background, a fire burning in the fireplace.

All of them had just seemed so utterly Connor to him that he had bought them immediately smiling as he imagined Connor with the beanie over his tousled hair, cheeks and nose blue from the cold, laughing about something Gavin had said.

It was adorable, and Gavin couldn’t help but smile. The items weren’t expensive, they weren’t anything grand, but he somehow he felt like they were just the right thing to buy. Not overly weird and sappy, but it still showed that Gavin cared for Connor, that he didn’t want him to freeze in the wintery cold (despite the fact that androids weren’t able to feel cold but Gavin ignored that fact) and hopefully showed how much Gavin had come to love the other’s enthusiasm for both dogs and for the holidays.

_ Love? _ He wondered for a brief second, suddenly feeling Elijah’s hand on his shoulder, a soft look on his cousin’s face.

“Gavin—” he began.

“Yeah?”

“You really like him, don’t you?”

Did he? He certainly enjoyed Connor’s company, enjoyed  _ more _ than his company. Being away from him by now felt somehow wrong and he couldn’t help but wish for the android to be by his side. If he had the chance, he could simply stare at him and listen to him talk for days on end, he couldn’t even fathom how the android’s voice had ever annoyed him. Thinking about Connor made him smile, made him feel warm inside.

_ Fuck. _

“I—”

“I know.”

It was strange how well Elijah could read him in moments like this, and when he turned his head towards his cousin the other wasn’t looking at him, but was looking at Chloe instead with a fond look on his face.

“You should tell him. I’m happy for you, Gavin,” he said quietly.

Unsure what to say, Gavin remained quiet before he nodded, watching as the blonde android looked through various racks of scarves, gesturing for Elijah to come over to her. His cousin gave him an apologetic glance and left, and Gavin watched Chloe wrap one of the colorful scarves around Elijah’s neck, laughing and smiling as he leaned forward, pressing a soft kiss onto her head.

Instead of trying to shove it away he let his mind wander away this time, let himself imagine Connor here with him, sweet kisses on his temple and laughing joking and holding his hand and leaning into him for warmth.

Maybe Elijah was right.

Scratch that, he was most certainly right. And Gavin absolutely had no idea what to do. He was utterly fucked.

With a last glance towards Elijah and Chloe he firmly wrapped his grip around the two presents he had decided on and moved towards the register.

Now he could only hope that Connor would like what he had decided on. And maybe, just maybe, it would be enough to show Connor that he really cared. Maybe it would be enough to convey his feelings. And maybe, just maybe, Connor could feel the same. It was Christmas after all, so was asking for a miracle for Christmas day too much?

Gavin had asked the shop assistant to wrap them for him, had gone tomato red once more after she had asked whether the present had been for a special someone. Elijah had jumped in and smiled, telling her that yes, they were for Gavin’s boyfriend, and Gavin had gone even redder, cursing his cousin out as soon as they had left the store, much to Chloe’s amusement.

As soon as they were in the car again, Gavin sighed contently at the warmth he was now surrounded with, closing his eyes and leaning his head against the cold window.

Whatever would happen, all he could do was hope for the best. And maybe for a small miracle.

 

**7:14 p.m., December 24**

Connor was sitting on the bed, playing games or texting someone on a phone that Gavin didn’t even know he possessed, a calm expression on his face, his LED yellow. Something felt wrong about it.

“How was your day?” The android asked without looking up as soon as Gavin entered the room, and he was glad that he had hidden the presents for Connor away in one of the closets in the hallway for him to get later, because there was no way he could get them past Connor.

“Fine,” he responded, kicking off his shoes. “Yours?”

“I’d say so too. I walked around the area a bit, I— I didn’t want to stay cooped up in the house.” His voice wavered slightly and the words  _ alone, without you _ hung between them like an accusation. Maybe it was one.

“I’m glad it went over well.” He sighed. “Look, I’m sorry, but Elijah needed my help with something and it was pretty urgent.”

Connor sighed. “Gavin, it’s fine.”

“Then why is your mood ring still yellow?”

“I— Gavin, I’m fine, can we— can we please change the subject? Or just go to dinner, I don’t know what you did all day but I’m sure you must be hungry.”

The way Connor still cared about him despite Gavin leaving him alone here with his family made Gavin’s heart both jump with elation and ache in guilt.

Unsure what else to do he simply nodded and motioned for Connor to lead the way.

Dinner went over as well as always, snarky comments and eyerolls and backhanded compliments, with Connor being his usual polite and optimistic self and Gavin making up a hopefully believable story to cover his little gift shopping with Elijah. After all, what was one more lie?

Afterwards, his mother had actually pulled him aside to ask if everything was fine, and if he said he wasn’t touched by her concern that would have been a lie. Gavin had quickly assured her that there was nothing askew, that the distance between him and Connor simply came from the fact that they were both tired.

She had simply nodded understandingly, and he had suddenly began to wonder when his mother had started to, well, at least tolerate the relationship he and Connor didn’t even have.

They made their way back to their room pretty quickly after Dinner, and once Connor had disappeared to the bathroom to get changed Gavin had rushed out and stored away the presents in their closet. There was no way in hell he would be handing them to Connor in front of his family, not with the meaning they carried for him, not with what he wanted to tell him.

Did he really want to do that? Did he really want to confess his feelings not even a day after realizing them? Maybe he should wait— But he also felt like he had made excuses for long enough now. And maybe Elijah was right in his advice that he should tell Connor, maybe for once the universe was on his side.

He sighed and began changing into his usual sleepwear when Connor stepped out of the bathroom, looking at Gavin for a split second, LED still yellow, before wordlessly slipping under the covers.

Gavin really had to make up for leaving Connor here for the day he realized as he climbed into bed as well, longing for the android’s usual warmth.

He could only hope that he would be able to do so.

 

**9:33 p.m., December 25**

Christmas morning began with Elijah waking them up with a knowing grin on his face and he was gone before Gavin was able to even properly rub the sleep out of his eyes. He hadn’t slept too well last night, and all he wanted was for him and Connor to be okay again.

 

“Are you coming, Gavin?” The android asked from where he was standing in the door frame, putting down a small box on the drawer next to him, a small smile having returned to his face.

“Yeah, gimme a sec, Con. How are you even all dressed and shit already?”

“Not everyone falls back asleep immediately after being woken up once,” Connor teased and Gavin could feel himself smile.

“Sue me for being tired.” He stepped out of bed and lazily threw on a pair of jeans coupled with the same ugly sweater he had worn the previous day before following Connor into the living room where his family was waiting already. No Chloe at Elijah’s side, but he had expected it. He knew Elijah didn’t want to subject her to this mess, and his cousin was absolutely right in doing so.

His whole family was gathered around the tree, annoyance and impatience on some of their faces and Gavin could only smirk when he saw it, grabbing Connor’s hand before he sat down on the floor in front of the tree.

“So, who’s first?” He asked, grinning.

They made their rounds of exchanging cheap wine from the gas station, money and cheesy holiday cards, the odd box of crayons or dinosaur toy thrown into the mix for Steve’s little daughter, and Gavin leaned back against Connor, watching the dysfunctional mess of his aunt arguing with her husband over the earrings he gave her not being expensive enough.

His heartbeat was starting to pick up pace, nervousness eating him alive.

Once they were done here, he would give Connor his present. Apologize for leaving him alone, and tell him that maybe, over the course of the last week (had it really only been a week? It felt like a lifetime to Gavin) he had started to wish that what they were acting out here was more than just pretend.

He could do this, he tried to tell himself as his stomach started jumping, his nerves fluttering.

Rebecca and Eddie had put on their best show again, being as grossly, fakely in love as they could but Gavin hadn’t let himself be bothered by it this time.

Not even his aunt’s screeching and his grandfather’s glares as he leaned further into Connor, caressing his hand could bother him right now, not with his nerves on the line like this.

“Don’t you and Connor have gifts for each other?” His mother suddenly asked, and he felt his mouth go dry. Would they even believe him if he said he wanted to exchange them in private? Would  _ Connor _ even believe him? He gulped.

“We— We do. But I didn’t wanna hand it to him here.” Gavin didn’t look at his mother as he spoke but instead looked at Connor. The android’s eyes widened in surprise before he smiled, a soft expression working its way onto his face.

“Yes,” he added quietly. “We already talked about it and decided that we would feel more comfortable exchanging gifts just between the two of us, I hope you understand.”

“Well, you had no fucking problem sucking face in front of us!” Dane interjected.

“Dana! Language!”

“Oh fuck off,” Gavin replied lazily, not even caring anymore. She could go bite his ass for all he cared.

“Gavin!”

“Sorry, mom.”

“If we are done here, I’d like to say goodbye for now. I have somewhere to be,” Elijah spoke up, smiling lightly. Gavin knew exactly where he would be going, and he couldn’t help but smile back.

“It was a pleasure spending Christmas with you all, but I’m afraid there’s someone I’d rather spend the rest of the day with. Don’t worry, I’ll come back again tomorrow.” And with that he was out of the door.

“If Eli’s leaving, I think we can go back to our room too, what do ya say?” Gavin whispered to Connor, tuning out his grandfather’s tirade about “this ungrateful grandson of his”.

“Okay,” Connor whispered back.

Fingers still intertwined Gavin stood up and pulled Connor with him.

“Alright, we’ll leave you too it. We still have our gifts to exchange,” he grinned, sounding more confident then he felt.

Not even waiting for an answer they left, and Gavin could feel his heart beating in his chest, loud and fast. This was it.

As soon as the door closed behind them, he took the neatly wrapped present out of the closet. It wasn’t big, not by far, but he hoped for the best.

Next to him, Connor grabbed the small box off the drawer and sat down on the bed.

“Would— would it be alright if I went first?” The android asked quietly, avoiding Gavin’s eyes.

Gavin nodded, and Connor handed him the small package. He carefully began unwrapping it under Connor’s watchful eyes and a bright smile tugged at the corner of his mouth as he saw the small snow globe, matching the one he had bought Connor, but with a cat that looked exactly like Gilbert inside, wearing a small Santa hat.

He hadn’t even expected Connor to get him a gift before seeing the box, and he couldn’t contain the grin on his face, happy and touched about the fact that Connor had thought of him, had gone through the trouble of finding something that would mean something to him, remind him of Connor and his time here, of one of the happiest moments he had experienced in recent years.

“Do— Do you like it?” Connor asked shifting around his weight.

“I love it,” Gavin replied quietly, watching as the snow fell, mimicking the cold weather outside. He gently placed it on the drawer again, looking at it for another second before reaching for his own box, sitting down next to Connor.

“My turn,” he grinned and handed Connor his box.

This was it. This was the moment. He watched as Connors eyes lit up in excitement as he unwrapped the present with the utmost care, mouth slightly agape and LED bright blue, a bright smile forming.

“These— these are beautiful, Gavin,” he said quietly, looking at Gavin with such warmth and sweetness in his eyes that Gavin was questioning whether he was still alive or had ascended to heaven already.

“I’m not quite sure what to say other than thank you,” he continued, taking out the beanie and pulling it over his messy hair, smiling.

“How do I look?” He grinned.

“Beautiful,” Gavin smiled. “You look stunning Connor, you always do.”

“I—”

“No, no, no, can you let me talk for now? I— I got something pretty important to say and I need to get this out before I get cold feet again like the coward I am,” he attempted to joke, but the way Connor looked at him, earnestly and curious, a hint of nervousness in his eyes made his voice die in his throat for a second before he took Connor’s hand.

“Listen, I— I know you’re probably still angry at me for leaving you alone here yesterday, and— and I get that, I understand that, I don’t blame you. I’d be pretty fucking angry too, but I’m sorry. Not just for that, but also for dragging you into this mess.

I know you said you didn’t regret coming here, but I still shouldn’t have put this on you.”

“Gavin—”

“No, please let me finish, okay?

But despite everything, I— I ‘m very glad you’re here with me, I know that this disaster would have been so much fucking worse without you at my side.

Your almost annoying politeness and optimism — don’t look so offended, I said almost —, your smile, the way your eyes light up, your hand in mine, even your stupid fucking Christmas decoration— there’s no way I’d want to miss this. Miss you, Connor.

I know I’ve been a fucking dick to you, not just during your first week at the precinct but afterwards, and I know I’m really hoping for a fucking miracle here, but what I’m trying to fucking say is— I think, no I’m really fucking sure I like you, Connor, and not just in a buddy kinda way.” He let out a shaky breath, searching Connor’s eyes for a reaction.

“So you didn’t leave yesterday because you were so appalled by kissing me?” Connor whispered, and Gavin’s eyes widened in shock.

“What?! No!” He exclaimed. Had Connor really thought that?

“Connor, how is that even possible? I thought with your supercomputer brain you would be able to figure out that that’s not the case.”

“I’m sorry, I just— you didn’t even seem to want to talk to me afterwards, and then you were gone the next morning, and I assumed—”

“Then you need to stop assuming, dipshit,” he grinned, bringing one of Connor’s hands, the one he was still holding, up to his lips and placing a soft kiss on it.

“I wasn’t ever appalled or disgusted by kissing you, not even that first time in the car, even though I was pretty fucking confused.”

“I— I’m happy to hear that,” Connor smiled back. “Because I really enjoyed kissing you.”

“Oh?” Gavin asked, leaning forward. He hadn’t gotten a clear answer from Connor yet, but at this point it was safe to assume that he had gotten his miracle, right?

“Yes,” Connor whispered. “I— I think that was one of the reasons I even agreed to your stupid ploy.”

“Wait, what?”

“Gavin, you—you might not have realized it, but I have been interested in you for a while now. I never considered pursuing anything, it was only a stupid infatuation for no real reason I thought, Hank had told me so, the people and Jericho had told me so, but— I think I’m glad I didn’t listen to their warnings when I agreed to this. I— I wanted to see how a relationship with you might look like, maybe to convince myself that it would be a bad idea, maybe because I was holding out some hope that one day, maybe, you might like me back,” he whispered.

Gavin felt like the air had been knocked out of him. Connor? Having a crush on him? Agreeing to this thing just to get closer to him?

How awful must it have felt to kiss him, thinking Gavin wasn’t enjoying it nearly as much as he did, would never like him in that way? He winced.

“Connor, I—”

“No, Gavin, don’t apologize,” he said softly. “I agreed to this on my own accord and I’m— I’m happy about the way everything went, I— I don’t think I can properly believe that my Christmas miracle came true yet.” He ended with bright eyes and a teasing smile on his face.

“Let me show you then,” Gavin replied, smiling just as widely.

Without hesitation he leaned forward and cupped Connor’s face with his hands before pressing his lips onto the android’s, taking in his beautiful face for a second before closing his eyes.

This was it, he thought as he moved his lips against Connor’s, this was where he belonged right now.

When they broke apart, Connor’s smile was brighter than any of the fairy lights surrounding them, and all Gavin could do was lean in again, capturing the other’s lips once more.

 

**8:15 p.m., December 28**

Gavin had never thought he’d be sad to leave his family’s house after Christmas, but in a sense, he was. Without it, without them, who knows whether he and Connor would have found each other like this, even if he liked to pretend that he wouldn’t have needed such a situation to realize what a dumbass he had been and how much he had been missing out on.

His mother had been the only one to properly say goodbye to the pair of them instead of just nodding and shouting “see you next year” in the living room without looking up, Elijah having left a day before them. 

She had been smiling much brighter than she had in the beginning of their stay. She had even hugged Connor tentatively, carefully, testing the waters before taking Gavin into a bone-crushing hug, whispering a quiet apology for the way she had reacted initially and wishing them a safe drive. 

Maybe he wasn’t the only one who had experienced some weird enlightenment during the past few days. He hadn’t expected it, but he had hugged his mother back awkwardly, hoping that maybe their visit actually had started some change in her.

The car was warm as Gavin started the engine, one hand in Connor’s, his mother’s cookies on the dashboard, the dog-eared beanie on Connor’s head, smiles on their lips.

Gavin wasn’t really sure what to expect from the future, going being back to Detroit, but Connor’s hand in his felt warm and smooth and he was sure he could handle whatever life threw at them now, be it an angry Hank ready to murder Gavin before he would inevitably calm down and accept the fact that Connor and Gavin were dating, be it big, slobbery St. Bernards that Connor had shown him pictures of, be it confused, maybe even judgemental colleagues, weird cases, or all the big and little challenges that came with being in a relationship.

They managed to pull through this week with his family, they would be able to pull through everything.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> I really hope you enjoyed this story, I had so much fun writing it! Don't forget to leave me your thoughts, and I hope 2019 will bring great things for all of you, and that you had lovely holidays <3

**Author's Note:**

> Feel free to drop by and talk to me on tumblr [@unacceptable-bisexual](https://unacceptable-bisexual.tumblr.com), or join the [convin discord server](https://discord.gg/93AUA7B)! I'm always happy to hear from you guys <3
> 
> My writing / editing music for this fic was mostly Yule Shoot Your Eye Out by Fall Out Boy. Go listen to it and you'll see why.


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